Nicolas PETISOFF
Stage director

Nicolas received a creative grant for the creation of his play Pédé.e – Comment avouer son amour quand on ne sait pas le mot pour le dire.

What is your artistic background ?
I am a writer, an actor, a director, a DJ, a curator. In short, I am many things, but I am nothing alone. I was born in 1979 and I grew up between the countryside of Limousin and a supermarket in an industrial area. I discovered theatre during my secondary school years, my professional training started at the Conservatoire de Région du Limousin. I continued my apprenticeship at the Académie Théâtrale de l'Union in Limoges during two years of training in acting; the institution was directed by Paul Chiributa and Silviu Purcarete. Since 1999 I have been working as an actor and assistant director with several companies. During my professional career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Vincent Macaigne in his short film Don Juan. I’ve had the joy of participating in a work-in-progress by Alain Platel. I act under the direction of David Gauchard, Hala Ghosn, and many others. In 2006 I co-founded the Collectif Relou Krew with Anne-Sophie Tarnaud; we develop performative work around contemporary authors. For the past two seasons, I have been working as a dramatist on contemporary dance projects and as a guest director on other companies' projects.
In 2019, in collaboration with Denis Malard, I create the 114 Cie. I then engaged in the writing of a triptych to stage: The trilogy of Monsters. Parpaing, created in November 2019 at the CDN of Rouen, is the first piece of this adventure. In this autobiographical show, we question the apprehension of our heritage. Are we still someone in the eyes of the world when we don't know where we come from?
Pédé.e - Comment avouer son amour quand on ne sait pas le mot pour le dire is the second part. This play, which will be released in 2023, questions love in all its beauty, its violence and its solitude, especially when this love is considered out of the ordinary by society. How to confess one's love when one does not have the words to say it?
Putain!, hopefully ready for 2025 - 2026, will be a project about anger. We will talk about our powerlessness before the inequalities of the world and our contradictions. How do we manage to get up every morning to simply live our lives? Do we have to turn a blind eye to visible inequalities in order to have the courage to start our day? This reflection will round out this adventure in three axes. Other dreams are maturing: a sociological study followed by a documented creation on prostitution in the student milieu, and an adaptation of a novel by David Wojnarowicz... among other dreams.

How do you view your profession today ?
I love it, I loved it yesterday and I intend to still love it tomorrow. I like its movement. I like to be moved inside. I knew I was an actor, I discovered I was an author, I assume the place of director and Denis Malard and I plan, in the long term, the project of a proper company. This profession is more like a trade for me. It is a permanent learning process. Everything is in the making; it is a craft. I consider us to be dramatic artisans. In my practice and in the way we create as a company, it is a constant questioning, a perpetual imbalance that we try to tame. I have the feeling that risk, vertigo and mastery are the essential ingredients for pleasure and sharing. The work on the intimate, the questions of identity to better present to the world one of the faces of oneself, the burning subjects which are the reflections of our society are at the heart of the artistic research which will see the birth of the projects to come. I am happy to see that our profession is turning more and more courageously towards forms and proposals in movement anchored in a contemporary reality. I feel a desire for openness and invitation in our proposals to look at the world through another prism than that of individualitý. For example, our company is not an orphan, it is part of a matrix with the companies L'Unijambiste, La Poursuite, Bajour, the PAC and many others. We link our networks, we mix our teams, we delegate our productions, we coordinate, we share, and I can't imagine working any other way. Professionally, I have not always seen the good side of things. Without being naive, the critical spirit that I have about the world and that enriches our work is the same as the one that feeds my observation of the profession. I know all the excesses (power, violence, inequalities, competition...). So, I remain alert, vigilant, and demanding so that our artistic gesture is as honest as possible. I sometimes grind my teeth a little, but together with 114 Cie, I have decided to work with others and not against others. We idealize the notions of sharing and collectivity, we work with our jaws unclenched.

How do you see yourself in 5 years ? In 10 years ?
Is this a question about the future? The future is an elusive hydra. I think it's quite a feat to look ahead to tomorrow. When we launched ourselves fully in 2019 in this trilogy, we had a very precise plan of things to do, an impeccable chronology: creation, engagement with the Parisian press, festivals on the horizon, and hop! the tour, then creation of the next one, etc... Except that Covid descended on us. Like everyone else, we had to put our desires on hold, we experienced endless waiting and, personally, my relationship with time changed. I didn't feel like running anymore. I am not sure I want to run after that time. My urgency has become less spectacular. It is more intimate. So, I have dreams for the future, but the calendar is a bit optional. Maybe my 2026 plans will come true in 2031. So, I don't know when, but I do know what I want. Artistically, I want to continue to create our projects with my collaborators, I want to complete the Monster trilogy so that we can be proud of ourselves, just like a child who gives their first Mother's Day present with love. I want to play on prestigious stages so that our loved ones are proud of us, I want to play in the village hall of the small town where I grew up in Limousin so that our loved ones are even prouder of us. I want to continue to share our doubts and to ask questions while hoping not to impose the answers. I want to fight not to close in on myself, I want to continue to meet. I want to expand our theatrical family and by the same token expand my family. And I want to live by the sea.
So, if all goes well, in five years, I see myself happy, on the road with Denis Malard, my alter ego, and all the others in the family chosen to play the continuation of our projects. In five years, I see myself serene in my daily life with Raphou, my husband, Hedda and Lorette my goddaughters. I see myself at peace with my adoptive family and in complicity with the biological families I’ve met more recently. In five years, I see myself laughing with my friends, even with those who live a bit far away. 114 Cie will be seven years old, we will play The Monsters Trilogy wherever we are wanted, wherever there is free speech, on the stage. And in 10 years... we'll see.

This interview was conducted in 2022
Photography credit : Julie Glassberg