Theater in Geneva
The Corse-Coeur gives pride of place to the Geneva companies
In the shadow of the Villa Diodati on Pré Byron, the theatrical institution completes a season full of success. Portrait.
The Crève-Coeur Theater, located at 16, Chemin de Ruth in Colagny.
Loris of Siebenthal
- The Crève-Coeur theater in Colagny celebrates its 66e year of artistic existence.
- The new season offers five Geneva creations of 24 performances each.
- The establishment, founded by Raymonde Gampert, has remained in the family since 1959.
- The intimate room hosts up to 60 spectators for various shows.
In sixty-six years of existence, COLOGNY Le Creve Coeur was able to assert itself as an essential theatrical institution of the canton. Nestled in an idyllic setting in the shade of the Villa Diodati, where Mary Shelley had imagined “Frankenstein” under the reverent eyes of Byron and Polidori, this small theater concludes a remarkable year in terms of attendance. What to delight for the rest of his adventure in The 2025-2026 season.
On Monday, the director of the establishment, Aline Gampert, granddaughter of the founder of Crève-Coeur, presented the new program. “He has five creations of 24 representations each, informs the mistress of the premises. All these pieces are carried by Geneva companies. ”
At a time when culture has more than ever become a political issue, everything will start on September 16 with “The Art of Comedy” by Eduardo de Filippo. A biting spectacle that headally questions the notion of power. As of November 11, the last comedy of the authors of the “first name”, Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Pattelière will follow. According to “El Electo” by Ramón Madaula, “by the tip of the nose” tells a face-to-face to knives drawn between a president of the freshly elected Republic and his shrink …
Also note “our morning matinations who are very successful”, adds the director, while advising to book, “the gauge being limited to 60 places”.
The little heartbreaker is 66 years old
The beautiful story of Crève-Coeur started in 1959 from the hands of Raymonde Gampert, an original colognote passionate about living arts, as was her mother Marguerite Naville before her. But it will be in the theater that this virtuoso of the verb will be fully accomplished. She then chose to dedicate her existence to 6e art. Readings, staging, recitals of poems … The press of his house becomes a haven of creation which first attracts those around him, then the population of the town. The success is there, and the space takes the name of the Théâtre du Petit Crève-Coeur.
But you have to go back in 1944 to detect the first traces of Raymonde Gampert in the press of the time. That year she wrote her own version of the “Mystery of Joan of Arc”, which will be played in Geneva, Basel, Lausanne and in neighboring France. Affected by the theater virus, Raymonde Gampert, played by this first success, is moving towards dramaturgy. She will adapt a few years later “Christmas on the square” by Ghéon, a piece which will inaugurate the little heartbreaker in February 1959. The roles were ensured by lovers of COLOGNY.
The intimate room of this essential theatrical institution of the canton.
Loris of Siebenthal
Cocteau, Chekhov, Musset, Lorcat, Tardieu and Synge … We play everything in this new institution and the price of places is calculated at the good will of spectators. “These are these narrow and friendly contacts between the artisans of the shows, and between them and the public, which are the distinctive mark of this company based on the disinterested love of the theater”, can be read in the columns of the “Tribune de Genève” of August 23, 1979.
Until his death at the end of 1976, Raymonde Gampert was rented by his fellow citizens. “There was in her a heart full of light that still warms,” wrote Robert Rudin in the Julie of January 3, 1977.
Generations of Colagny enthusiasts
After the death of Raymonde, his son Bénédict Gampert will take over the torch of the theater with his wife Anne Vaucher, after a closure of ten years. The opportunity to delete the term “small” in the name of the establishment. Now it will be the scene of the Crève-Coeur, quite simply. And in March 1990, the couple presented “vestiges of a bimillennial one man show” by Bénédict Gampert and staged by Anne Vaucher.
The duo will continue to confirm the beautiful reputation of the place. Despite some time more complicated in the 2010s, the crowds will be there, accompanied by an ever more creative and qualitative program. The Crève-Coeur is also known today for its theater workshops, dedicated to children.
Aline Gampert, the current director of Crève-Coeur.
Loris of Siebenthal
After the death of Bénédict Gampert in 2007, Anne Vaucher will hold the reins of the establishment before passing the torch to her daughter Aline. In everything and for everything, the heartbreaker has always experienced a gampert at its head, a fact rare enough to be noted.
In sixty-six years, three generations of enthusiasts have succeeded to have the Crève-Coeur Theater across the canton, with great success.
Le Crève-Coeur, season 2025-2026:
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