Panique !

When news breaks of the death of one of the rats in the cellar, panic immediately grips the bourgeoisie, and a rumor spreads: there is said to be an enemy within. This enemy is said to be, first and foremost, the gray rats, who are organizing and plotting behind our backs to slaughter us in our sleep. And then, once they’ve been eliminated, it turns out that the enemy within could actually be anyone. The rhetoric hardens, and the community gradually slides into fascism.

Designed to be performed by 2 to 15 actors, this comic fable—written in inventive language—offers a playful yet chilling take on the rise of fascism, crowd behavior, the surveillance society, and the mechanisms that fuel moral panic.

Romane Nicolas is a transfeminine author and performer who graduated from the playwriting department at ENSATT. She takes on numerous writing commissions and works with many teams as a dramaturg. She co-founded several reading groups, the Groupe Scalpel, and Le Pôticha éditions. She is currently an associate artist at the Théâtre Sorano—a state-subsidized theater. Plus, she’s cool.

Panic! is a commission by Julia Vidit and the Théâtre de la Manufacture, CDN Nancy Lorraine, for Romane Nicolas.

The show premiered on December 8, 2025, at the Collège de la Craffe in Nancy as part of a middle school residency supported by the Meurthe-et-Moselle department and with the support of the Nancy-Metz school district.