A Parisian success, the play Mademoiselle Molière by Gérard Savoisien and directed by Arnaud Denis, arrives on the stage of the Théâtre des Muses from December 4th to 8th. There we will find the common life led by Molière and his companion Madeleine Béjart. As funny as it is moving.
This year, Anne Bouvier received Molière’s highest award for Best Actress in the private theater, for her role as … Mademoiselle Molière herself, aka Madeleine Béjart. The latter was the muse and companion of Jean-Baptiste Pocquelin, says Molière, although she also offered her talent to authors such as Corneille or Tristan L’Hermitte. For Molière, with whom she founded L’Illustre Théâtre, of which she was director, she plays numerous iconic roles, such as Dorine in Le Tartuffe, Magdelon in Les Précieuses ridicules, Frosine in L’Avare or Elvire in Dom Garcie de Navarre or the jealous Prince. Although this relationship was not very quiet (Molière having had some infidelities), Madeleine Béjart died less than a year after her companion in 1672.
Molière as we have never seen
It is this colorful love story, as the couple enters its 20th year of life together, which challenged the author Gérard Savoisien, showing the public the intimacy of these two characters that the theater has not forgotten. Will Molière leave Madeleine for her younger sister? Will Madeleine let it happen? It’s a love story close to the heartbreak that we witness, thanks to Arnaud Denis’s inspired and emotional setting. Anne Bouvier and Christophe de Mareuil set up the Molière couple with a crazy inventiveness and a real communicative passion. A tension, released by lighter moments, to applaud at the Muses Theater on December 4, 5, 6 and 7 at 8:30 pm and Sunday, December 8 at 2:30 pm and 5 pm.
*Article originally published int he French edition of the Monaco Tribune.