Avec NouEs le Déluge — Eco-feminist Festival of Rouen

Four Norman companies, one committed festival

In 2024, four theatre companies from Normandy decided to join forces to create an unprecedented artistic event: Avec NouEs le Déluge, Rouen's first eco-feminist festival. 1% Artistique (Hérouville-Saint-Clair), La vie grande (Le Havre), M42 (Dieppe), and Une chambre à soi (Rouen) — four companies based in different parts of Normandy — formed a collective whose name evokes both the biblical flood and the climate emergency, with a graphic nod to the inclusive gender form ('NouEs').

The festival is hosted by the CDN de Normandie-Rouen (Centre Dramatique National), a major theatre institution in the city, which provides its two emblematic venues: the Théâtre des Deux Rives and the Chapelle Saint-Louis. This collaboration between independent companies and a public institution gives the festival visibility and legitimacy, strengthening its impact.

One day, from morning to night, to rethink the world

The festival's format is unique: a full day, from morning to night, concentrating theatre creations, performances, participatory workshops, debates, encounters, and convivial moments. This 'marathon' format choice creates total immersion in eco-feminist themes, where the audience moves from a show to a workshop, from a debate to a performance, with free circulation between the spaces of the Théâtre des Deux Rives and the Chapelle Saint-Louis.

Each edition is placed under the patronage of a personality from the theatre world and explores a specific theme. The first edition, in November 2024, was sponsored by director Pauline Bureau and questioned 'La Place !' (The Place!): the place we allow ourselves to take — or not — in our daily lives, in public spaces, in the world of work and creation.

Eco-feminism as an artistic horizon

Avec NouEs le Déluge stands out for its grounding in eco-feminism, a school of thought that links feminist struggles and ecological battles, considering that the domination exerted over women and that exerted over nature stem from the same mechanisms. The festival translates these ideas into joyful and committed artistic proposals, rejecting didacticism in favour of emotion, humour, and poetry.

The proposed creations mix contemporary theatre, performance, readings, dance, music, and visual arts, always in connection with eco-feminist themes. The festival is also a space for encounters and debates, where artists, researchers, activists, and the public dialogue around common issues of equality and ecological transition.