The surprise guest

Each month we have been introducing a surprise guest - a public figure that gives us their take on current affairs, bringing a breath of fresh air to broaden our horizons, inspires us and makes us look closely at the world around us. For this April edition, we are pleased to welcome Aurélie Vauthrin-Ledent, actress, writer and director, who tells us about her quest to save culture, which is so essential to our lives.

Aurélie Vauthrin-Ledent, originally from France, lives and creates in Belgium. A graduate of the Sorbonne University (performing arts), the National Regional Conservatory of Dramatic Art, Rouen (now the CRR) and the Brussels Royal Conservatory for Drama, Aurélie Vauthrin-Ledent is an actress, director, stage designer, singer-songwriter, artistic director and festival programmer. In the theatre, she has played roles from both the classical and contemporary repertoire, and has been directed by Peggy Thomas, Alexis Van Stratum, Renaud de Putter, Jamal Youssfi, Audrey Marsin, Charlie Degotte and Thierry Robrechts.

In 2014, Aurélie wrote and directed "Cerise à l'eau-de-vie" at the Théâtre de la Vie in Brussels.

In 2016, at the Théâtre Le Public, she played the main role in "L'échange" by Paul Claudel, a play directed by Peggy Thomas. In the 2016/2017 season, she developed, coordinated and led the Francophonirique II writing workshop at the Théâtre des Doms in Avignon, a workshop created by the director Alain Cofino Gomez.

In January 2020, at the Théâtre de la Vie, she directed the play "Les Corbeaux" by Henry Beque, in which she also acted.

Since 2016, Aurélie has been writing, composing and singing under the name of La Chouette et les Oiseaux de nuit.

In 2016, she set up the Tri-Marrant multidisciplinary festival at the Théâtre de la Vie in Brussels and remains its artistic director and programmer. The festival grew in 2018 and became a biennial event. The third Tri-Marrant festival, which was supposed to take place in June 2020, has been postponed until June 2022 due to COVID-19.

In April 2020, Aurélie founded a new publishing house for French-language theatre in Belgium, "Les Oiseaux de Nuit", of which she is the editorial, artistic and administrative director.