Press-release. From 18 to 23 of November 2011 Saratov Kiselev Youth Theatre received a delegation of theatre representatives from France.

The theatre was visited by a high-profile theater doer, producer and former director of the French Cultural Center Dominic Jambon, and a prominent theater critic and journalist Jean-Pierre Thibodeau.

Dominique Jambon had for many years been the leader of one of the national stages in France - Chambéry and Savoy Theatre - and has been investing a considerable effort in the development of Russian-French theatre relations long before becoming the director of the French Cultural Centre in 2005. In the year of 2010 within the framework of "The Year of France in Russia and of Russia in France" Saratov Kiselev Youth Theatre with the support of the French Cultural Centre and DominicJambon's personal involvement held a cultural campaign called "A Week of France in Saratov Kiselev Youth Theatre" which culminated in the premiere of a performance based on a play by the Frenach playwright E. Rostand "Cyrano de Bergerac." The work on the project was conducted by the creative team from France - the director Jean-Claude Fall and artist Gerard Didier.

Jean-Pierre Thibodeau is one of the leading theater critics in France, a writer, who also worked as a columnist for "Liberation", in the years of 1996-2006 he was a correspondent for a publication in Moscow. Since 2006 He has been the artistic director (selector and art consultant) of the French Festival of Eastern Europe theatres "Passage", which used to be held in Nancy, and recently moved to the city Metz. Thibodeau does a lot in order to introduce Russian theater to the European audience. In 2009 he visited in Yekaterinburg for the week of French culture. This year, Jean-Pierre Thibodeau became a member of the jury at "Kolyada-Plays". He also runs author's blog "The theater and booth" in the online newspaper Rue89.com.

The French guests watched the last premieres and had discussions with the leadership of the theater on the prospects of further mutual cooperation. Both Dominic Jambon and Jean-Pierre Thibodeau shared very strong impressions of  Saratov Kiselev Youth theatre: they were astonished by the work of the administrative part of the theater, due to its efforts a number of unique Russian and international projects have been successfully launched in recent years. But what struck them most of all were the actors of the theater themselves. Amazed by incredible capacity for work and dedication of both leading masters of stage and of young actors, who are able to perform such a wide range of roles, Dominic Jambon and Jean-Pierre Thibodeau agreed in opinon that the company of the Saratov Kiselev Youth Theatre is "the golden treasure" of the theater. In several days French guests managed to view a variety of performances - from classical drama and children's fairy tales to modern avant-garde productions. They underlined in particular the staging of a well-known European director Matthias Langhoff, who in October 2011, presented on the stage of the Saratov Theatre a play by Heiner Müller, "Sophocles. Oedipus, the tyrant". Both guests are familiar with the work of this director,  including his stagings on the myth of Oedipus, but, as they admitted, nothing of what they had previously seen from Langhoff performances had ever been as strong in terms of emotional impact on viewers as his staging of "Sophocles. Oedipus, the tyrant".

As the result of Dominique Jambon's and Jean-Pierre Thibodeau's visit to Saratov Kiselev Youth theatre will be several review articles on the theater in the leading media publications of France, and which is more, Kiselev Youth Theatre has been invited to take part in the festival "Passages" (France) in 2013.

The link to the page of the production "Sophocles. Oedipus, the tyrant " at the theatre's website: http://tuz-saratov.ru/eng/theatre/shows/index.php?SECTION_ID=421&ELEMENT_ID=4451