Port-au-Prince and its Sweet Night preceded by Antigone / Agonist

Audiences are invited to experience a powerful, emotionally charged evening of international theatre and live music from French theatre group Compagnie Les Vents se Levent.

The acclaimed drama Port-au-Prince and its Sweet Night will be performed at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th July 2026 at 7:30pm as part of ArtHouse Jersey’s upcoming Summer Series. The Summer Series is supported by ArtHouse Jersey’s Corporate Patron Spoor & Fisher Jersey.

Directed by acclaimed Ukrainian–French director Lucie Berelowitsch and produced by Le Préau Centre Dramatique National de Normandie – Vire, it is performed in French (with English surtitles) by two extraordinary actors, Sonia Bonny and Lawrence Davis.

In a candlelit room in Port-au-Prince, Zily and Ferah love, cry, remember and tear each other apart, moving to the rhythm of a city gripped by violence. Zily does not want to leave without Ferah, but he, who still feels useful there, cannot bring himself to leave the island. How can love survive in a collapsing city.

Poetic, sensual, funny and deeply moving, award-winning Haitian writer Gaëlle Bien-Aimé’s semi-autobiographical play Port-au-Prince and its Sweet Night captures the whispered intimacy of a sprawling, broken place. Two lovers live to the pulse of the city’s streets, caught between staying to hold its future or fleeing to save themselves.

The performance is preceded by Antigone / Agonist, a new music-text poem inspired from Greek tragedy and recurring histories of resistance, the sacred and unjust power. Created and performed by Jersey-based musicians Rui Figueiredo (guitar), Michael Freeman (saxophone) and James Tyson (voice). Join the performers for a post-show discussion on Saturday 4 July.

Presented in association with the Maison de la Normandie et de la Manche and supported by the Institut Français and Jersey Library.

Head of Programme for ArtHouse Jersey, James Tyson, said: “It is a privilege to be able to share with Jersey audiences an evening of theatre that truly transports us to another world – a different language, climate, history – but yet where we find the concerns: to leave or stay, the passionate desires to overcome limitations, are universal.

“This presentation has come about through an exchange with the National Dramatic Centre of Normandy in Vire, and is a rare opportunity to bring first-rate European and international theatre to the intimate space of Capital House as part of ArtHouse Jersey’s Summer Series. I’m delighted we could also showcase a local project created with two stellar Jersey artists – Portuguese fado musician Rui Figueiredo and jazz saxophonist Michael Freeman and which brings another layer of cross-border connections through a retelling of the epic Greek drama Antigone.”