P’tits Cannes à You opens on Friday: sixteen days of shows for children, from birth upwards
Translated from French. The City of Cannes festival for young audiences opens this Friday 16 October at the Théâtre de la Licorne and runs until 31 October, through the autumn half-term: theatre, puppetry, dance, circus, music, film and workshops, with shows designed from birth and tickets at 6 euros, 4 euros at the reduced rate.
Translated from the French original. Lire en français
It is the first date of the autumn half-term for Cannes families. The P’tits Cannes à You festival opens this Friday 16 October and runs until Saturday 31 October in cultural venues across the city. Organised by the City of Cannes and programmed by the Théâtre de la Licorne, it lines up live shows, film screenings and workshops for children and their parents, on stage and on the big screen.
The opening night takes place this Friday at 7.30 pm at the Licorne, with “En apparence”, a staged concert by Compagnie Illimitée. Carried by three singer musicians and one actress, the show, suitable from age 5 and lasting one hour, explores how we dress, present ourselves and reinvent ourselves, in a set and costumes in constant transformation.
From babies to teenagers
The festival stands out for the breadth of ages it covers. On Sunday 18 and Monday 19 October, at 10 am and 4 pm, Compagnie AMK presents “Le petit reposé”, a poetic musical nap designed for the very young, aged 0 to 3, in a soft textile set. At the other end of the programme, “The Roaming”, an immersive virtual reality theatre experience created by Mathieu Pradat, settles into the Médiathèque Ranguin from Tuesday 20 to Saturday 24 October and is aimed at teenagers aged 13 and over.
In between, the Licorne programme runs through the forms: shadow theatre and puppetry with “Rêve et veillée” on Wednesday 21 October, theatre and live music with “Autour de Marzia” on Friday 23, theatre for young audiences with “Leurs cœurs se balancer” on Sunday 25 and Monday 26, and dance and acrobatics for babies aged 0 to 24 months with “Je suis là” on Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29. The festival closes on Saturday 31 October with “Faces à Face”, a circus and magic show by Matthieu Villatelle built around the Soma cube.
Performances spill beyond the Licorne stage. The programme reaches the Salle Raimu and the Médiathèque Ranguin in Cannes La Bocca, the Espace Miramar and the city’s cinemas, with creative workshops for children throughout the fortnight, including an introduction to cartoon drawing and a course in making an animated film at the Alexandre Dumas school in La Bocca at the end of the festival.
A venue built for young audiences
The Théâtre de la Licorne, at 25 avenue Francis Tonner in Cannes La Bocca, is the festival’s home. The hall seats 483 and holds the Ministry of Culture label of scène conventionnée d’intérêt national, with the mention “art, enfance, jeunesse” (art, childhood, youth). It programmes the festival on behalf of the City, and its whole season is built around young and family audiences.
On the practical side, pricing is the same across the programme: 6 euros full price and 4 euros reduced, the reduction applying notably to under-26s, Pass culture holders and parents of large families. Tickets are sold on cannes.com, on the Cannes Agenda app and at the Cannes city hall box office, and a box office opens on site one hour before each performance.
