Théâtre la Seizième unveils 2025-26 season, including two productions by Brussels-based Compagnie Chantal & Bernadette
Other works in store range from Mammalian Diving Reflex’s innovative Nightwalks With Teenagers to Théâtre Gauche’s offbeat humour–filled Parler mal
Compagnie Chantal & Bernadette’s La Convivialité. Photo by Véronique Vercheval
PLAYS THAT COVER EVERYTHING from French accents to motherhood fears are on offer this year at Théâtre la Seizième, which has just announced its 2025-26 season.
Programming will launch with Nightwalks With Teenagers, a unique outdoor experience by Darren O’Donnell of Toronto’s Mammalian Diving Reflex, from September 25 to 27 and October 2 to 4, starting at 7:30 pm each evening. Locations will be revealed closer to the show dates. In Nightwalks With Teenagers, local teenagers guide groups of audience members on an exciting nighttime excursion to all of their favourite spots around Vancouver. The show—which has been adapted for more than 35 cities worldwide—allows adults to see the world through the eyes of young folks, setting the scene for opportunities to learn from one another.
Cispersonnages en quête d’auteurice by Montreal’s Joe Jack et John will take place from October 30 to November 1 at Arts Umbrella, presented with Neworld Theatre. The production follows a group of neurodivergent performers who are in the process of planning a theatre show—and who hit wall after wall while attempting to come up with an idea void of taboos or trigger warnings. The production raises genuine questions about ethics, appropriation, and political correctness in modern-day society. English surtitles will accompany every performance, and a bilingual meet-the-artists talk will happen on October 31.
In the new year, Moncton-based company Théâtre Gauche’s Parler mal will show on February 6 at Alliance Française Vancouver. The production, by Bianca Richard and Gabriel Robichaud, addresses a real concern for many: What exactly constitutes “good” French? With offbeat humour and skillfully documented scenes, the duo examines the biases that accompany different accents and what it means to express oneself through language. The show includes English surtitles, and a bilingual meet-the-artists talk will take place the same day in partnership with Radio-Canada.
Théâtre Gauche’s Parler mal. Photo by Benoit Daoust
Théâtre la Seizième’s production Liste des enfants dévorés par les loups will premiere at Studio 16 from March 4 to 14, 2026. English surtitles will accompany every performance except March 6. Playwright Caroline Bélisle has devised a dramatic yet humorous story about a careful new mother who’s obsessed with the idea that something bad might happen to her first-born child. And when her friend who’s terrified of motherhood offers her two cents, the pair must learn how to navigate their friendship anew. Two artist talks will happen: one in French on March 6 in partnership with Radio-Canada, and another in French and English on March 13.
All the way from Brussels, Compagnie Chantal & Bernadette will bring two productions to Théâtre la Seizième audiences to cap off the season: La Convivialité on May 19 and 20, 2026, and Kevin from May 21 to 23, 2026, both at the Waterfront Theatre.
La Convivialité unpacks the French language with a plot that questions the written norms that have been developed over centuries of institutionalized spelling—such as why the verb alourdir (“to burden”) is written with just one L, while alléger (“to lighten”) is written with two. The play was created by trained linguists and former teachers Arnaud Hoedt and Jérôme Piron, who make light of the urge to comply. In Kevin, meanwhile, Hoedt and Piron, along with co-creators Antoine Defoort and Clément Thirion, have crafted a story about a boy struggling to grasp the basics in high-school geography class, and how this points to the very real flaws in today’s education system.
Both performances of La Convivialité (and a meet-the-artists talk on May 20) will be in French only; and English surtitles will accompany every performance of Kevin, with a meet-the-artists talk on May 22 in English and French.
Two shows designed specifically for young audiences will also run during Théâtre la Seizième’s 2025-26 season. They are the Kleine Compagnie coproduction Petite Ondine on April 11, 2026, at Studio 16; and Grande Ourse – Petite Ourse (Baby Space Opera), copresented with Foolish Operations and the Vancouver International Children’s Festival at Carousel Theatre for Young People from May 27 to 31, 2026.
Liste des enfants dévorés par les loups and Grande Ourse – Petite Ourse are currently in development as part of Théâtre la Seizième’s artistic incubator program, which helps local productions reach the stage. 
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