Febrile?
How could Molière not be on this October 24 while he oversees the latest developments that are transforming the Louvre's guard room into a theater?
Until now, by dint of intrigue and thanks to the support of a certain number of his friends, including the Abbé de Cosnac, who had become the confessor of Monsieur, the king's only brother, he had succeeded in his return to Paris despite his shoes. -traps and pitfalls.
Philippe d'Anjou deigned to take the troupe under his protection and he obtained from Louis XIV that he attend one of his performances.
Molière, who chose to play Nicomède by Pierre Corneille, knows that his future and that of his family depend on the reception that the Court will give them.
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From the first scene between the eldest son of King Prusias and Laodice, Queen of Armenia, John the Baptist, who has developed an acute perception of the audience's mood, feels in every fiber of his body the polite boredom that has seized assistance.
Beads of sweat trickle down his back and a deadly chill numbed his limbs.
It's torture to play in front of a room where everyone is waiting for the last line with growing impatience.
“
By the crow!
Are we going to fail so close?
Molière is not a man to admit defeat so quickly.
No sooner was the performance over than he came to the front of the stage and, while making a deep bow to His Majesty, begged her to be kind enough to hear a little entertainment like the troupe of Monsieur, when it belonged to the Prince of Conti, had the good fortune to treat the provinces with it.
Louis XIV likes the word province, which smells like the kingdom of France, and then this Molière, who was so flat in
Nicomède
, suddenly sparkles with joy.
The king is only twenty years old.
How would he not be curious to hear a joke?
He acquiesces gracefully to the request of the comedian in the purple suit.
Good for him, because soon Louis XIV, always so concerned about dignity, unbuttoned.
Between two antics of the Doctor in love, Molière heard the king laugh.
Balm!
Honey!
Elixir!
The Court no longer plays its minx, it laughs.
And the Queen Mother herself deigns to smile.
All proud of the success carried away by his troop, Monsieur will obtain from the king a room for his actors.
That of Petit-Bourbon where they will play alternately with the Italians.
Back at the Hostellerie de l'Image Saint-Germain where the troupe is staying, there is only laughter, shoves and congratulations.
"
Hello innkeeper!
Wine and the best!
Paris is ours!
The comedians of the Marais and the Hôtel de Bourgogne just have to watch out!
»
For his first performance in front of the Parisian public in November, Molière, who understood the lesson of the Louvre,
.
The troupe was a great success, but when it proposed a tragedy, the audience pouted and from the second performance the receipts plummeted.
Molière does not want to let himself be locked into the comic but, necessity being law, he gets down to writing a new play which will stage "
two pecques
", fresh from their province and who play their precious.
At the first reading of Molière's comedy at the Pomme de Pin, one of the favorite cabarets where he often found his friends, Claude Chapelle, whom he had known at the Clermont college, François Bernier, Jacques de La Mothe Le Vayer and Pierre Mignard, the merry company chokes with laughter.
Especially when Jean-Baptiste makes his Marquis de Mascarille or grumbles like Marotte, the servant of the precious ones,
filofy in Grand Cyre
”.
Les Précieuses ridicules
were performed for the first time on November 18, 1659. Comedy was immediately all the rage and Monsieur's troupe, overnight, became fashionable.
You have to be seen at the Petit-Bourbon if you want to pass for a fine spirit.
All the great lords pride themselves on having Molière on a “
visit
” in their hotel.
Mazarin himself wanted to hear
Les Précieuses
.
This enthusiasm for Molière can only attract the ire of jealous people.
He's not going to complain about it.
He even finds himself very comfortable with it.
The cover of Figaro Hors-Série What's New?
Moliere!
CCO Paris/Carnavalet Museum
"
What's up?"
Moliere!
», 114 pages, €8.90, available on newsstands and Figaro Store.