Aurélia Lüscher’s wild, tender conversation with her dead grandmother takes the stage in Geneva

Aurélia Lüscher has created a direct line to the afterlife, complete with interference. In “Au Grand Passage,” the young Geneva actress converses with her deceased paternal grandmother at the Scènes du Grütli, as part of the Bâtie-Festival de Genève.

The production refuses to settle into a single genre. It combines cheeky humor with deep sensitivity, turning a seemingly impossible encounter into a theatrical game of tricks, spells and emotional intensity.

The performance does not offer the straightforward grandmotherly portrait audiences might expect. Juliette Lüscher Delacrétaz was remembered as refined and discreet, a woman who loved cooking, cats, beautiful furniture and royal family stories. She worked as a saleswoman at Grand Passage, a once-institutional department store in central Geneva.

Lüscher’s previous production, “Les Corps incorruptibles,” also approached death through an unusual mixture of humor and unease. The new work is presented as further evidence of her striking talent as a performer, with shows running through Sunday at the Geneva festival.