Jean-Luc Lagarce, playwright and theatre-director (1957-1995)

The son of working-class parents employed by Peugeot, Jean-Luc Lagarce grew up in Valentigney in the Doubs. He studied philosophy and drama in Besançon and founded an amateur theatre company – Le théâtre de la Roulotte – which subsequently became a professional theatre. In between productions, he wrote more than 20 plays between 1981 and 1995 before succumbing to aids at the age of 38. His literary work has been rediscovered by critics and theatre-directors and translated into 25 languages, making Jean-Luc Lagarce the most produced dramatic author in France in the 21st century.