Mohamed El Khatib makes his greek debut at the Athens Epidaurus Festival with “Ending in Beauty” and “Renault 12”

The Athens Epidaurus Festival welcomes acclaimed French-Moroccan playwright, director and visual artist Mohamed El Khatib for his first appearance in Greece with the performance Ending in Beauty, presented on 17 and 18 July 2026 at Pireos 260 (Space E). On 16 July, audiences will also have the opportunity to discover his autobiographical documentary Renault 12 during a special screening at the French Institute of Greece.

Born in France to Moroccan parents, El Khatib has developed a distinctive artistic language that moves fluidly between theatre, literature, cinema and documentary. His work explores both social realities and deeply personal territories with poetic sensitivity, humour and remarkable empathy. Drawn to aspects of everyday life that often go unnoticed-from ordinary routines to the hidden lives of older generations-he creates works that transform intimate experiences into universal reflections on memory, identity and loss.

Ending in Beauty, his first theatrical work, received the Grand Prize for Dramatic Literature in France in 2016.

Originally conceived as a series of conversations between the artist and his mother, the project was profoundly transformed by her death on 20 February 2012. What began as an attempt to document her memories became an urgent need to articulate everything left unsaid, an act of remembrance intended to be shared with others.

On her hospital bed, she asks him:

“Isn’t there an operation they can do?”

“No. There is nothing more they can do.”

Alone on stage, El Khatib gives shape to the emotional fragmentation of a son confronting the loss of his mother through a discontinuous narrative that constantly shifts between documentary and fiction. The performance assembles fragments of a life-newspaper clippings, emails, voice messages, text messages, recordings and videos-which function simultaneously as documentary evidence and as delicate traces of a relationship.

Family, homeland, mother tongue and rituals of farewell emerge alongside the unexpected details that make grief profoundly human and, at times, surprisingly humorous. With remarkable theatrical precision and minimal means, the audiovisual environment becomes both archive and emotional rupture, allowing life itself to slip through its cracks.

Tender, witty and deeply moving, Ending in Beauty is a theatre of reality that seeks beauty precisely where it appears to have disappeared.

Renault 12: Documentary Screening and Conversation with Mohamed El Khatib

On 16 July, one day before the performances, the Athens Epidaurus Festival, in collaboration with the French Institute of Greece, will present El Khatib’s autobiographical documentary Renault 12 at the Auditorium Theo Angelopoulos (31 Sina Street), from 17:00 to 18:30. Admission is free.

Renault 12 follows El Khatib’s personal journey as he mourns the loss of his mother. Built from documentary footage and filmed during the real repatriation of her body from France to Tangier, the film unfolds as both a road movie and an intimate meditation on identity.

Driving a Renault 12-a model that became immensely popular in Morocco during the 1970s-the filmmaker crosses France and Spain in search of an unexpected inheritance. What begins as a physical journey gradually evolves into a deeply transformative exploration of family history, memory and belonging.

The documentary also offers audiences valuable insight into the real-life experiences that inspired the creation of Ending in Beauty, revealing how personal memory became theatrical material.

Following the screening, 18:30–19:30, Mohamed El Khatib will participate in a public discussion moderated by Didier Juillard, International Theatre Advisor of the Athens Epidaurus Festival. The conversation will be held in French with simultaneous interpretation into Greek. Admission is free and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Performance Credits

Text, Concept & Performance: Mohamed El Khatib
Visual Design: Fred Hocké
Sound Design: Nicolas Jorio
Tour Stage Manager: Zacharie Dutertre
Technical Director: Arnaud Leger
Production Director: Gil Paon
Administrative Support: Lucile Macé, with the assistance of Mélisane Marien
Tour Coordinator: Matis Hernandez
Press Relations: Nathalie Gasser

Produced by: Zirlib

Co-produced by: Tandem Douai-Arras – Théâtre d’Arras (France); Montévidéo – créations contemporaines (France); Théâtre de Vanves (France); CDN Orléans (France); Scène nationale de Sète et du Bassin de Thau (France)

With production support from the Association Beaumarchais – SACD, artistic support from the Festival actOral, and support from the Fonds de dotation Porosus.

The performance text received development support from the CnT.