Babel has returned to Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche for a second season, turning the Paris department store into a live-performance venue after normal shopping hours. Choreographer Mourad Merzouki combines dance, circus and martial arts inside a production built specifically around the store’s architecture.
The first season attracted more than 22,000 spectators. The 2026 run continues from September through the end of December, making the performance a recurring part of the store’s cultural programme rather than a short promotional event.
The audience surrounds a 360-degree stage
Spectators are seated across three levels, with the performance unfolding in the centre of the building. This changes the relationship between audience and stage because no single viewpoint can reveal every detail at once.
The architecture of Le Bon Marché becomes part of the choreography. Balconies, vertical space and sightlines influence how performers enter, disappear and reappear through the evening.
A purpose-built tower anchors the scenography
The production uses a tower created specifically for the store alongside circus equipment including a Chinese pole and suspended structures. These elements allow movement to extend vertically instead of remaining on a conventional floor-level stage.
Merzouki reverses the familiar Tower of Babel story by imagining a tower that descends rather than rises. The idea gives the piece an optimistic focus on connection rather than failure of communication.
Ten performers communicate without words
Dance and acrobatics carry the narrative without spoken dialogue. Classical and electronic music provide a shared structure while the performers move between different physical disciplines.
This makes the show accessible to international visitors without translation. Paris travellers can experience it as a visual event even if they know nothing about the original production before arriving.
Luxury retail is increasingly becoming cultural space
Le Bon Marché has a long history of using art and installation alongside retail. Babel takes that idea further by allowing the entire building to function as a theatre once the normal commercial day has ended.
For LYG Lifestyle, the appeal is the unusual use of a familiar luxury destination. A store becomes something worth visiting for performance alone, giving repeat visitors to Paris a reason to see a well-known address differently.
