DRAGONS IN THE HALLS

In this musical theater in the form of live hip hop radio, Julien Villa adapts to the stage his novel "Des Dragons dans les halls", the 3rd part of his trilogy Des Don Quichotte(s). Drawing on his childhood memories of a 90s housing estate, the actor and director imagines an epic tale of youth gang life, the discovery of rap, humor and manga-inspired urban mythologies. Dragon Ball give rhythm to a brutal daily life and "re-enchant a disenchanted world with intrigue". 

We follow the adventures of several local losers. Among them is the narrator, a certain Jules Lopez, known as "Julo le gros", an overweight teenager surrounded by his friends. Among other things, Julo and his pals are passionate about the adventures of San Goku, a young humanoid warrior and hero of the manga Dragon Ball. Echoing this fantastic universe, the adventures of these teenage gangs shed a unique light on their neighborhood and the mythical characters who inhabit it: the zombies in the phone booth, the gypsy clan, the son of the famous garage owner, the woman with the flip-flops and the wine cube, the girl with the blue hair....

Seated around a live radio table equipped with microphones, keyboard and sampler, the performers embody this romantic tale on stage. Between narration and embedded dialogues, the writing combines fiction, situation play and urban poetry. The simplicity and immediacy of the radio device help unleash the novel's imagination on stage.

Julien Villa is an actor, writer and director. Trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique in Paris, he has worked with a number of directors, including Samuel Achache, Philippe Adrien, Jeanne Candel, Céline Champinot and Sylvain Creuzevault. Close to the Villeréal Festival, in the Lot-en-Garonne region of France, in 2016 he directed the show I have a General Motors in my heart with the company Vous Êtes Ici. He then created the company La Propagande Asiatique in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and wrote and directed the show Philip K. or the black-haired girlthe first part of his trilogy Don Quixote(s). The play, written for the stage, was published in 2020 by Esse-Que éditions, along with a collection of poems. For the second part of this trilogy, he writes the novel Rodez-Mexico published by Rue de l'échiquier. He will adapt it for the stage in autumn 2022. The final part of the trilogy will be adapted from his new novel Dragons in the halls an autobiography about growing up on housing estates in the 90s, the manga Dragon Ballpopular mythologies and rap music. The novel, due for publication in early 2026, will be adapted for the stage in spring 2026. Julien Villa was associate artist at the Centre Dramatique National de Caen between 2021 and 2024. Since September 2024, he has been an associate artist at the Gare Mondiale in Bergerac.