Julien Gosselin trained at the École supérieure d'art dramatique de Lille, directed by Stuart Seide. With six fellow students, he formed Si vous pouviez lécher mon cœur in 2009, and directed Gênes 01 by Fausto Paravidino (Théâtre du Nord, 2010), Tristesse animal noir by Anja Hilling (Théâtre de Vanves, 2010) then Les Particules élémentaires after Michel Houellebecq (Festival d'Avignon, 2013). Next came Je ne vous ai jamais aimés by Pascal Bouaziz (Théâtre national de Bruxelles, 2014), Le Père by Stéphanie Chaillou (Théâtre national de Toulouse, 2015) and 2666, adapted from Roberto Bolaño's whirlwind novel (Festival d'Avignon, 2016).
After 1993, by Aurélien Bellanger (Festival de Marseille, with class 43 of the Théâtre national de Strasbourg), he returned to Avignon for Joueurs, Mao II, Les Noms, after Don DeLillo, which also inspired Vallende Man (L'Homme qui tombe), first performed at the International Theater Amsterdam (Netherlands), then Le Marteau et la Faucille (Printemps des Comédiens - Montpellier). In 2018, he won the XV Europe Prize for Theater in St. Petersburg. In 2021, Julien Gosselin will work with the Théâtre national de Strasbourg's Groupe 45 on an adaptation of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Dékalog, and will direct Le Passé, based on texts by Russian author Léonid Andréïev. In 2023, he created Extinction, based on Thomas Bernhard and Arthur Schnitzler, which brought together actors from Si vous pouviez lécher mon cœur and the Volksbuehne, and premiered at the Printemps des Comédiens in Montpellier, before going on to the Avignon Festival, Berlin, Antwerp and Paris (Théâtre de la Ville).
At the Odéon, Julien Gosselin and Si vous pouviez lécher mon cœur presented:
- Les Particules élémentaires, by Michel Houellebecq, at Les Ateliers Berthier (2014), reprised at Théâtre de l'Odéon 6e (2017);
- 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, at Les Ateliers Berthier (2016);
- Joueurs, Mao II, Les Noms, after Don DeLillo, at Les Ateliers Berthier (2018);
- Le Passé, after Leonid Andréïev, at Odéon 6e (2021).
He has been the new director of the Théâtre de l'Europe since July 15.
Read the press release from the French Ministry of Culture