Make yourself uncomfortable, contort on a chair, bring your legs behind your ears, put a coat on your lap. Here, the illusion is perfect, you are at the theater. At the Comédie-Française, in this Richelieu room, which was to close this spring for renovation work. This evening, we give L'Avare , by Molière, in the direction of Catherine Hiegel, created in September 2009. Denis Podalydès puts on the Harpagon costume, inaugurated by Molière at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in 1668. Put the students on in front of the post. They must have Molière on the program and the show is delightful. Classic in form, unlike some contemporary productions - Ivo Van Hove makes Harpagon an unscrupulous trader (the cassette is a USB key) -, and modern in subject matter since Molière is timeless.
A great moment of theater
The Miser is situated between farcesque comedies ( Le Malade imaginaire , Les Fourberies de Scapin , Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme ) and the great Alexandrian plays ( Tartuffe , Le Misanthrope ). His prose is less rich and less complex than the latter. The Harpagon monomane is less multiple than Orgon or Alceste. And yet, L'Avare remains an inexhaustible playground. Through its themes, universal and timeless: the obsession with money, the tyranny of fathers. By its comic power. Molière masters the whole palette. Comical situation, rehearsal ( "Without dowry!" ), Misunderstanding ... The Miser is a generous piece.
Following illustrious predecessors (Aumont, Serrault, Bouquet), Denis Podalydès revitalizes Harpagon. Far from the unhappy old man, the member encapsulates a lively, violent and joyful miser in his sad passion. His money is a makeover. It is only once deprived of his cassette that he loses his footing: "Without you, I cannot live. (…) I'm dying ; I am dead ; I am buried ... ” The famous monologue of Harpagon (act IV, scene VII) is a great moment of theater here. Even on television.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
