Kenza BERRADA
Stage Director

Kenza received a creation grant to help her with her play Paradis plage (la vie comme dans du miel)

What is your artistic background ?
As a child, I found myself very early on the stages of the National Theater of Rabat, either dancing classical ballets or playing piano. Then theater came into my life in secondary schoo where I played a rhinoceros in Ionesco's play. Having arrived in Paris from Morocco at 17, I did long literary studies and put aside any artistic aspirations until it caught up with me. The metamorphosis of reality is what guides me. Boujloud (l’homme aux peaux) is the solo performance I continue to tour with, and I'm creating in September 2026 Paradis plage (la vie comme dans du miel) at the National Theater of Strasbourg. Throughout the year, I will be mentoring young people to direct them in Adolescence et territoire at the Odéon Theater, at T2G and at Espace 1789.

How do you view your profession today ?
We meet up with other directors to discuss our profession, and we are all afraid of what is happening in France. The difficulty we encounter in carrying out our projects can sometimes make us want to give up, but being together gives us strength. Watching others work fills us with desire. I live between France and Morocco and this gives me some distance. Artists in Morocco have always fought to show their work and this determination inspires me and allows me to imagine ways to continue understanding humanity.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? In 10 years?
My 4-year-old daughter does shows in my living room every evening in silence. A succession of movements. I watch her and tell myself "that's what I want to acheeve." To rediscover the simplicity of gestures and words to touch people. I want to work with artists who don't have the same language as me nor the same artistic language, to continue being in movement.

This interview was conducted in 2025
Photography credit: Isabelle Chapuis