Jean-Michel Ribes

Jean-Michel Ribes — Biography

Jean-Michel Ribes is a figure of French theatre who stands out as writer, director and institution head at once. He ran the Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris from 2001 to 2022. Besides writing for the stage he worked as a screenwriter, film director, actor and advertising writer.

On the television side he directed the programme Merci Bernard between 1982 and 1984 and in 1988 created the television sketch series Palace. In cinema he appeared both in front of and behind the camera: he played the priest in Avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès (1972) and his filmography includes Le Mors aux dents (1979) and La Galette du roi (1986); Musée haut, musée bas and La Jeune Fille et les Loups (both 2008) and Brèves de comptoir (2014) are listed too.

In the theatre he directed Batailles, co-written with Roland Topor, in 2008, then staged Petter S. Rosenlund's Un garçon impossible and Roland Dubillard's Les Diablogues. In 2010 he directed Les Nouvelles Brèves de Comptoir, based on texts by Jean-Marie Gourio, and in 2011 he wrote and directed René l'énervé - Opéra bouffe et tumultueux to music by Reinhardt Wagner; Théâtre sans animaux and Sébastien Thiéry's L'Origine du Monde (2013) followed. He received the Plaisir du Théâtre award in 2001, holds the Legion of Honour as knight (2007) and officer, and has won the Grand prix du théâtre.