Toc Toc de Laurent Baffie

On July 3, 2026, at the Théâtre Beaulieu Nantes, Laurent Baffie’s Toc Toc assembles a cast that brings to life a gallery of patients stranded in a waiting room. Under the direction of Pascal Maillard, Mathieu Gaudin, Marie Elie, Sophie Morin, Nelly Pichotbadeaud, Kamal Rawas and Olivier Collin embody six personalities with firmly entrenched OCDs. Palilalia, Tourette syndrome, nosophobia or an obsession with lines—each arrives with their own mechanics and jargon, and it is in the prolonged absence of Dr. Stern that the group discovers one another, clashes and answers back.

The staging arranges trajectories and collisions, allowing the fragility behind the rituals to emerge. The actors take hold of the text with a keen sense of collective rhythm, stringing together retorts, awkward silences and attempts at play to pass the time. Without overemphasizing, they establish a dynamic in which tics become a form of speech and listening overrides panic. Toc Toc remains a situational comedy, but here it is propelled by ensemble work: glances that meet, repetitive gestures that spread, alliances that form and then dissolve. It is an opportunity to rediscover Laurent Baffie’s precise touch, served by a close-knit company that brings each character clearly to life.