The famous unknown playwright.. Moliere sparks a renewed passion in Shakespeare's country

After a long estrangement with the audience in Shakespeare's country, plays based on Molière's texts have finally returned to attract many English spectators hungry for a timeless comedy, written by the French playwright who celebrates Saturday the fourth centenary of his birth.

At the National Theater in London, where audiences are accustomed to deep, serious scenes, the audience laughs during a scene in which American actor Dennis O'Hare as the famous Tartuffe character covers Moliere, by parodying an innocent equestrian scene in front of the other heroine Olivia Williams.

"Comedy can cross centuries if we know what to do," the American actor told AFP.

He pointed out that "part of the humor was based on language, while another part was based on sheer idiocy...But there are also great moments of pity and emotion that enrich the work so much."

The success of this theatrical production based on the story "Tartuffe" in 2019 proved that Molière was able to attract a wide audience in Shakespeare's country... But this was not always the case.

“Often there were more people on stage than in the hall,” says Noel Peacock of the University of Glasgow, who specializes in Molière's work in English-speaking countries.

In the 1980s, a critic in the Sunday Times warned of the gap between France and the United Kingdom, asking, "How can we make free trade agreements with a country that cannot export its best comedy?"

But the situation has "completely reversed" since then, according to Peacock, as dozens of Molière's works have been shown on English stages in recent years.

Contemporary Projections –

Tartuffe alone had three copies in London between 2016 and 2019.

Keira Knightley also co-starred in Le Misanthrope in 2009, with David Tennant (known for his role as In the series "Doctor Who") in the play "Don Juan" in 2017.

The professor attributes this renewed interest to new translations whose authors focus more on conveying the spirit of writing than on the literalism of Molière's texts.

"Great plays go on for a reason," says Denis O'Hare. "Tartouf is the character of a crooked rascal. But he's also the kind of guy who, in the tradition of French comedies, speaks volumes. He's rebelling against society's rules and conventions."

The Royal Shakespeare Company even went so far as to drop Moliere's text on the story of a family of Pakistani descent in Birmingham, where the topic of religious hypocrisy showed a great ability to mimic reality.

The French-British Exchange Theatre, in London, recently released a documentary about its theatrical quotation of the "enemy of mankind" and its contemporary projection within the editorial room of a media outlet that faces issues of lies and hypocrisy.

French-Mauritanian director David Furlon invokes Don Juan's hypocrisy monologue ("A good man is the best character one can play"), as an example of a text that stays valid forever.

- "Many aspects" -

"I've wondered in the past if my French upbringing alone made me admire Molière," says Vorlon, "but I don't think so. There are so many sides to Molière, he is so rich and varied, he excels in both comedy and tragedy scripts, And with comic texts as much as for philosophical plays, he addresses everyone."

Theatrical adaptations of Moliere's work have also been successful elsewhere around the world, including Germany, Russia and Japan.

A book on Molière in the Arab world also indicates that the works of the famous French playwright have been shown in Arab countries since at least 1847, and that he has become the "spiritual father of theater" in many countries.

"Moliere's plays were so important in the world," says Comedian Francaise archivist Agat Sanjuan, "that it formed the basis for some national theaters that adapted his works to the local language and culture."

In England, Molière faced fierce competition with Shakespeare, even though the works of the French playwright had crossed the other side of the English Channel since the 1760s.

But Moliere had a bigger resonance in Scotland, Peacock said, where "his main advantage was that he was not English."

For nearly 400 years, the name Molière has been associated with the “Comedy Francaise” until it became its patron, to the point that the name “House Molière” is given to the famous Parisian building of the oldest theater group still active in the world, even if the French poet and playwright never set foot in it. .

Inside this prestigious edifice, a revered piece of furniture is a wooden armchair displayed inside a glass cabinet... On this bench he wrestled Jean-Baptiste Boclain (Molière's original name) during a performance of his famous play "The Phantom Sick", before he was later given a life in his house.

Comedian Francaise archivist Aghat Sangwan explains to AFP that this chair is "sort of the only thing left" of the institution from his stage.

The seat, which the actors used until 1879, she adds, "has a presence so strong that it almost suggests that Molière is still sitting in it."

There are busts of the playwright scattered throughout the building, which the actors are keen to touch in the hope that it will bring them success and good fortune, and pictures of him or members of his troupe such as Mademoiselle Bouval, who embodied several characters, most notably Zarbinet in the play "Maqbal Skaban".

- Not a year goes by without Molière

. The "Comedian Francaise" was born in 1680, seven years after the death of the playwright, when King Louis XIV, who was protecting him, decided to merge his troupe with another.

The band moved between four theaters before its performances settled in 1799 in the Richelieu Hall near the Palais Royal, that is, close to the house where Molière died.

Molière's death is mentioned in the Comedian Francaise's most important document known as the Lagrange Register, a group of notebooks named after Moliere's assistant Lagrange (played by Dom Joan), in which he documented the activities of the writer's group.

This record and other souvenirs, including a hat and a watch engraved with Moliere's name, are preserved in its library (and museum).

Molière leaves no personal impression on him, as no memoirs, correspondence, not even notes shed light on the character of the greatest Western comedian.

His daughter Esprit-Madeleine, who survived only of his four children, lost his manuscripts, and his first biography of him, published in 1705, titled The Life of Monsieur Molière, remains a source of legends about Molière, who became the favorite playwright of the French King Louis XIV.

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