Gargoyle Theatre

The Gargoyle Theatre

Théâtre de la Gargouille is a professional performing arts company and production center based in Bergerac, Dordogne. Founded in 1979 by Christine Good and Gérard Guillemin , the company has been developing a project combining artistic creation, cultural outreach, education, and touring for over forty years. Its circus school, established in 2018, is located at Le P'tit Chat Noir , on Rue Jean Nicot in Bergerac.

La Gargouille thus possesses a particular identity: the circus classes do not operate independently of an artistic environment, but within a professional company that creates and distributes shows, hosts a program, develops cultural projects with the inhabitants and works regularly under a big top.

2026-2027 Season

For the 2026-2027 season, the school offers weekly circus workshops for children aged 10 and up, teenagers, and adults. Classes take place every Wednesday outside of school holidays and are organized around two main complementary areas: aerial disciplines and acrobatic lifts .

Aerial disciplines

Aerial disciplines are taught by Barbara Lartigau . Students can practice trapeze, aerial hoop, and silks. Aerial work is complemented on the ground by contortion, handstands, and various acrobatic movements.

• Trapeze
• Aerial hoop
• Fabric
• Contortion (ground complement)
• Handstands
• Various acrobatic movements

Acrobatic lifts

Acrobatic lifts are taught by Jef Naets , a professional circus artist specializing in this discipline. Students begin with lifts close to the ground before gradually progressing to static and dynamic figures. The practice relies heavily on cooperation, listening, trust, and understanding each person's role in performing and ensuring the safety of the figures.

The school does not consider technique as an end in itself. The disciplines offered allow for the development of physical effort, body control and fear management, but also mutual support, listening and solidarity among the participants.

Starting in March, the skills acquired during classes are gradually applied to a creative project. The students then create a show in order to experience the transition from technical practice to performance on stage.

This creation is presented to the public during the Arti'Show festival, the school's annual celebration held at the P'tit Chat Noir . Performances from the current season are scheduled for June 2027. Each student can thus experience not only learning a circus discipline, but also creating and performing a show.

In addition to weekly classes, La Gargouille organizes workshops. Acrobatic lifts play a particularly important role in this program. For the current season, several workshops are scheduled between September and December with Jef Naets .

• Workshops open to teenagers and adults, beginners and intermediate levels
• Working in pairs, trios or larger groups
• Exploration of balance, alignment, posture, flexibility, strength, confidence, and parrying techniques

The professional environment at La Gargouille is one of the school's main attractions. Jef Naets has been a circus artist for about twenty years and trained in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. In addition to acrobatic lifts, his training has led him to practice Korean cradle, Russian bar, and various clowning styles.

La Gargouille develops its own professional, multidisciplinary work that blends theatre, clowning, circus, dance, music, and song. The company notably owns a self-contained aerial gantry acquired in 2021 and has developed several productions centered around aerial disciplines.

This proximity to professional performance allows students to practice in a genuine cultural venue, meet artists, and discover different forms of live performance. Le P'tit Chat Noir hosts a professional program throughout the year, in which circus arts regularly feature.

Itinerancy and cultural activities

The transmission of knowledge extends far beyond the courses organized in Bergerac. Since its inception, La Gargouille has championed a policy of cultural outreach, particularly targeting rural areas. Its 250-seat tent-theater allows it to relocate a veritable cultural hub and temporarily set up shows, workshops, and creative projects in different communities.

The Sentiers de l'Éphémère (Paths of the Ephemeral) are one of the main components of this touring project. The company can set up its big top for several weeks and work with schools and local residents to develop a project that blends the discovery of live performance, theatre, circus, and creative expression.

The Performing Arts Discovery Class allows students to participate in circus and theatre workshops, create their own show, and attend a professional production for young audiences. Teaching staff can also integrate writing, communication, or graphic design projects into the program.

In 2025, a residency in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, for example, involved approximately 150 students. For several weeks, the children participated in theatre and circus workshops leading to the presentation of shows under the big top.

La Gargouille also develops Quartiers en Scène , a cultural action program created with residents of Bergerac's neighborhoods. More broadly, the company advocates a vision of live performance based on sharing, diversity, and access to culture for all.

His project thus closely links artistic practice and territory. The circus school constitutes one of the tools for transmitting this approach, alongside the theatre school, workshops, residencies, professional shows and touring activities.

The organization is a member of the French Federation of Circus Schools and affiliated with FREC Aquitaine. The FFEC currently lists the Théâtre de la Gargouille in Bergerac, with Agnès Augé as the contact person.

La Gargouille also benefits from ESUS status due in particular to its work with young people and its missions to promote and develop the rural area.

Today, the Théâtre de la Gargouille can therefore be considered simultaneously as a professional company, a place for creation and dissemination, a travelling cultural hub and a theatre and circus school.

For practitioners, this setup offers an original environment: learning trapeze, hoop, silks, acrobatic lifts, contortion or hand balances while evolving in direct contact with professional artists, creations and a live performance program.

In Bergerac, as with its touring projects, La Gargouille thus defends a circus based on practice, creation, cooperation and encounter with the public, in a project where amateur transmission and professional activity are closely linked.