Joël Pommerat’s Tales and Legends at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival

The 10th Wuzhen Theatre Festival took place from October 19 to 29, 2023, in China. One of the most talked-about plays at the festival was *Contes et Légendes* by the French theater company Louis Brouillard, a speculative documentary fiction exploring adolescent self-discovery and the myth of the artificial creature. This production was a huge success in China thanks to its aesthetic originality, and it also sparked in-depth discussions between Chinese audiences and the play’s artistic team. At the Wuzhen Theatre Festival, Contes et Légendes stood out for its distinctive artistic expression and thematic depth. Pommerat’s play succeeded in captivating Chinese audiences while prompting deep reflection on contemporary issues, thereby reinforcing the power of theater as a potent means of exploring and understanding the world today. WANG Jing, director of the Hybridités France-Chine association, contributed to the production’s presentation in China as the play’s translator and an advisor to the Wuzhen Theatre Festival’s programming committee.