Fondation Barnabé

Curtain rises on a diverse theatre

Nestled among the rolling hills of the Lavaux-Oron region in the canton of Vaud lies the small, idyllic municipality of Servion. This is a rural community and home to a cultural institution that radiates throughout French-speaking Switzerland, bridges the cultural divide with German-speaking Switzerland and extends into neighbouring France: Barnabé, Switzerland’s biggest “café-théâtre”. A cultural institution offering a unique combination of dining followed by a show.

What Théâtre Barnabé particularly likes about PostFinance

  • Regional banking relationship
  • Needs-orientated advice
  • Consistent customer service
  • High level of advice and implementation expertise

Cultural legacy

The brainchild of Théâtre Barnabé is Jean-Claude Pasche (1940–2020), alias Monsieur Barnabé. Pasche was a lover of entertainment, and of operettas and musicals in particular. In 1965, he launched Théâtre Barnabé, a theatre recreating the atmosphere of the legendary Parisian revue cabarets. After running the theatre for a full 50 years, Pasche called it a day, appearing on stage for the last time in 2020 in the musical Sister Act. On his passing, Pasche left behind an impressive cultural legacy: in addition to a collection of 7,000 costumes, which he had made for his revues over the years, the largest cinema/theatre organ in Europe and a huge model railway now also remind us of the impresario’s tireless work.

“We value our collaboration with PostFinance as a local partner with whom we can communicate quickly and directly.”

Sébastien Chave, Administration, Fondation Barnabé

Entrepreneurial and artistic turning point

In 2018, the reins of management changed hands at the theatre, taking it a new entrepreneurial and artistic direction. Sébastien Chave, who is responsible for administration of the theatre and has been with Barnabé for around ten years now, looks back: “The theatre was at a low point in 2018. The new management team brought new momentum to Barnabé – making changes to the artistic programme and getting the business back on track financially with new partners.” The new team decided to do away with the burlesques and revues and focus instead on musicals, comedies and cinema/theatre shows. As part of the reorganization, the process of digitization was also driven forward. During the restructuring, PostFinance – which has been supporting Théâtre Barnabé for over ten years – provided its services to implement a new online ticketing system and make the payment solutions in the catering business more efficient.

Management team appears on stage

One striking feature of the new leadership team is that all of its members have an artistic background. Sébastien is originally a musician, just as all of the directors, technical managers, office and administrative staff are made up of musicians, actors, singers and acrobats. Everyone in management started out on stage at Théâtre Barnabé and everyone is still performing today. Together with their dedicated employees, the management team helps to put together a wide-ranging programme – 16 shows all told – running night after night for an audience both young and old.

Fine dining and vigorous applause

Since the reorganization in 2018, Théâtre Barnabé has once again become a success story: every year, more than 40,000 theatre lovers make the pilgrimage to Servion to treat themselves to the fine food on offer in the rooms housing the large and small stages, before then enjoying a musical, comedy or cinema/theatre show. You can book tickets – as you now know – quickly and easily online.

Théâtre Barnabé uses the following PostFinance services and products in particular: