© Lou-Tokino Cardonnel
Molière Award-nominated French actor alone embodies every facet of “SENSŌ: War”.
- Artist/Company
- LHP / Didier Galas [From France]
- Date
- Saturday, 19, September 16:30-
Sunday, 20, September 16:30-
*This event may be canceled in the event of rain or severe weather.
*There will be a talkback after each performance. - Running Time
- 45 minutes
- Venue
- BIRD Theatre [Outdoor Theatre]
- Price
- Adults: 3,000 yen
Student discount: 1,000 yen
under 18: 500 yen
Preschool-aged children: Free - Language
- Performed in Japanese and French (songs)
- Mobile subtitles
- Mobile devices for Japanese or English subtitles available
© Lou-Tokino Cardonnel
© Lou-Tokino Cardonnel
© Lou-Tokino Cardonnel
- About the programmeOpen
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戦争 SENSŌ is a wordless performance (or almost wordless), inspired by Gargantua by François Rabelais. Rather than showing the horrors of war, it dismantles its mechanisms through play, burlesque and music, revealing their absurdity — and reminding us that humour and imagination are also forms of resistance.
A single performer embodies, one after another, the aggressors, the victims, the king, his generals, their soldiers and the territories they invade. Gestures, rhythms and sounds accumulate and unfold into choreography, music and song. Combat becomes a musical score; the battlefield becomes a game; and pantomime transforms into an Art-Pop concert.
Accessible to all audiences, the performance speaks immediately to children through laughter, music and physical expression, while offering adults a human and political satire.
- Cast/StaffOpen
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Based on texts by François Rabelais
Directed by Didier Galas
Performed by Didier Galas
Music: Niko Sarran
Assistant of the director: Lou-Tokino Cardonnel
Masks: Erhard Stiefel
Costumes & scenography: Vincent Beaurin, Sylvie Auvray Virginie, Jean-Jacques Weil
- Message from the artistOpen
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Dear Bird Festival Audience,
May SENSŌ become a great shared laugh. A laugh that does not deny the violence of our world, but gently disarms it. Five hundred years ago, Rabelais trusted in the power of laughter to reveal our humanity. I hope this performance can do the same.
With gratitude,
Didier Galas
- Director's ProfileOpen
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© Lou-Tokino Cardonnel Didier Galas
Didier Galas trained at the CNSAD (Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique) in Paris, notably with Claude Régy. He became widely known for creating the character Ahmed, invented by philosopher Alain Badiou, a role that earned him a nomination for the Molière Award for Best Actor.
His artistic journey has led to collaborations across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Through a sustained exploration of comic forms in theatre and the figure of Harlequin, he created several solo works in French, Chinese, Japanese and Italian, including Monnaie de Singes (Festival d’Avignon, 2000), アルルカンお天狗である (SPAC Shizuoka, 2010), Trickster (Paris, 2011), and aïloviou… comme je le prononce (Rennes, 2013).
In 2014, he created ことばのはじまり in Kyoto with seven performers. Most recently, he created Ahmed comes back, words & music duet with 野村誠 (2024), developed from an earlier version first created in India (2020).
Since 2025, he has developed projects inspired by François Rabelais and participatory theatre works with exiled and socially vulnerable communities.
A Villa Kujoyama laureate (1998), he teaches at ENSAD (École Nationale Supérieure d’Art Dramatique) in Montpellier and leads workshops internationally. He has been a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher since 2016.
- Host/GrantOpen
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Produced by LHP
Supported by FONDATION FRANCO JAPONAISE SASAKAWA
