David Geselson

Country: France
Company: Compagnie Lieux-Dits

Biography

David Geselson is an actor, author and director. He has written, directed and performed En Route-Kaddish (2014), Doreen (2016) – based on André Gorz’s Letter to D., Lettres non-écrites (Unwritten-Letters) (2017) and Neandertal (2023) which premiered at the 77th Festival d’Avignon.

He wrote and directed Silence and fear (2020). In March 2024, at the invitation of the MC93, David Geselson directed A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction, based on a proposal by Katie Michell, as part of the European STAGES project. As a performer, he has worked in film, television and theater.

He has performed on several occasions under the direction of Tiago Rodrigues (Chœur des amants, La Cerisaie, Bovary).

In spring 2025, he recreated Doreen in Taipei, with a Taiwanese team, at the invitation of Taipei’s National Theater and Concert Hall. In autumn 2025, he will stage his first opera, La Bohème, at the invitation of the Opéra de Nancy. Les Lettres non-écrites is published by Le Tripode. His other works are published by Lieux-Dits.

Neandertal

Written and directed by David Geselson

Perfomed by David Geselson, Adeline Guillot, Peter De Graef or Jan Hammenecker (in rotation), Marina Keltchewsky or Olga Abolina (in rotation), Sarah Le Picard or Laure Mathis (in rotation), Elios Noël

Live drawing on sand Marine Dillard

Cello Jérémie Arcache or Valentin Mussou (in rotation)

Assistant director Aurélien Hamard-Padis, Jade Maignan

Set designer Lisa Navarro

Lighting designer Jérémie Papin

Video designer Jérémie Scheidler

Interaction and video designer Jérémie Gaston-Raoul

Sound designer Loïc Le Roux

Original soundtrack Jérémie Arcache

Costume designer Benjamin Moreau

Assistant playwriter Quentin Rioual

Artistic advice Juliette Navis

General stage manager Sylvain Tardy

Stage manager Nicolas Henault

Set Construction MC93, Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis

General manager, Tour manager Noura Sairour

Production manager Laëtitia Fabaron

Public relations AlterMachine I Carole Willemot

Produced by Compagnie Lieux-Dits

Coproduced by Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne – Centre dramatique national, Théâtre de Lorient – Centre dramatique national, Comédie – Centre dramatique national de Reims, Théâtre Gérard Philipe – Centre dramatique national de Saint-Denis, Théâtre-Sénart – Scène nationale, ThéâtredelaCité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie, Comédie de Genève, MAIF Social Club, Festival d’Avignon, Le Canal – Théâtre du pays de Redon – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création pour le théâtre, Théâtre d’Arles, Malakoff Scène nationale, MC93 Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis à Bobigny, Le Gallia Théâtre – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création de Saintes, Théâtre de Choisy-le-Roi – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création pour la diversité linguistique

With the support of DGCA – ministère de la culture, of la vie brève – Théâtre de l’Aquarium (Paris), of CNDC – Théâtre Ouvert

Project financed by Région Ile-de-France and Département du Val de Marne

Compagnie Lieux-Dits is accredited by Ministère de la Culture – DRAC île-de-France and Département du Val-de- Marne as part of its development aid

Synopsis

Because the light DNA can shed allows us to understand what it makes of us, Svante Pääbo – winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Medicine – embarked in the 1990s on a mad quest: to decipher the DNA of the Neanderthals, to try to understand how our species emerged. His discoveries speak to us of our place in the world we inhabit, the world that shelters us.

Neandertal stages scientists that attempt to rewrite the history of human origins by deciphering fragments of ancient DNA. Life and research mingle, collide, and feed off each other, and their discoveries, torn from the solitude of laboratories, shatter every notion of racial or ethnic purity.

Touring dates upcoming

20.06.25 – 21.06.25 Sibiu internațional Theater Festival, Romania

31.10.25 – 2.11.25 Seoul Performing Arts Festival, South Korea

24.02.26 – 01.03.26 Les Célestins, Lyon, France

Contacts for interests (touring etc)

Noura Sairour, general manager and touring,