Gérard Jugnot and Laetitia Colombani reopen the Théâtre de l'Empire in Ajaccio

The L'Empire theater, Ajaccio's “mythical venue” created in 1958 and which closed its doors to the public in 2015, reopened Thursday April 18 after a renovation. The decoration of the L'Empire theater has retained its "Art Deco inspiration, with its red curtains and matching seats, its metalwork, its gilding, its psychedelic lighting fixtures, its double staircase and its refurbished glass roof", underlined the town hall.

Spectators were once again able to climb the double staircase of this emblematic theater of the Corsican city on Thursday evening for Le jour du kiwi, a play by Laetitia Colombani with Gérard Jugnot and his son Arthur which delighted a packed house. The rehabilitation of this “grand theater of Ajaccio”, located in the center of the city, on the main artery that is the Cour Napoléon, endeavored to preserve “the spirit of the place”, underlined Michel Marti , theater director.

As part of a public-private partnership, this theater which receives “a programming subsidy of 170,000 euros” from Ajaccio and whose 700,000 euros of work was financed “60% by the Collectivity of Corsica”, can accommodate up to 950 people. In October 2022, the Laetitia, a neighboring cinema created in the 1950s and closed to the public in 2017, has already reopened “in the heart of the city”, completely rehabilitated while retaining the style of the period.

Since 2005 and the closure of the Kalliste theater where the prefect Claude Erignac was walking when he was shot dead in February 1998, the city only had the Espace Diamant (319 seats), the sports and entertainment center Palatinu (3,000 seats), the auditorium of the convention center (434 seats), as well as small association rooms, to offer shows.

In its report to propose financing for the rehabilitation work of the Empire, approved in November 2023 at the Corsican Assembly, the Corsican Community pointed out “the Ajaccian cultural under-equipment in the field of live entertainment”.