Lola Lafon and Leïla Slimani debut plays

French novelists Lola Lafon and Leïla Slimani are transitioning from literature to the stage with their first theatrical works.

Lafon, author of eight novels including ‘La Petite Communiste qui ne souriait jamais’, has written a play titled ‘Merci de votre collaboration’. Directed by Emmanuel Noblet, the production features five actors and is a co-production between the Théâtre du Rond-Point, running until November 14, and the Théâtre de l’Atelier, scheduled for January 15 to February 28. The plot is set in an airport terminal during bad weather, where a dispute involving an airline employee triggers political and moral conflicts among four friends. Lafon intended the play to explore the impossibility of dialogue and the sensation of people engaging in monologues rather than conversations.

Leïla Slimani, winner of the 2016 Prix Goncourt, also enters the theatrical realm, describing the move as a long-held dream.