The Théâtre des Muses offered a modernized version of Molière’s famous play. The silhouette of a smooth-talking President of the Republic, comfortably settled in his role, standing on stage, sets the tone.
We have the leisure to imagine Alceste, once serving his mentor like a general secretary of the Élysée, who, tired of these power games to appease the powerful, makes it known, especially to the one who makes him suffer and whom he loves, Célimène, the young widow of this President, intriguing and manipulative.
We are in the ambiance of ministerial offices, and without singling out any particular name, it is not a betrayal of the work to fully rely on the author’s verses to denounce flattery, injustice, betrayal, deceit — things Molière knew about when he presented his play in 1666 before a court that gave it a very cold reception, and for good reason: the critique displeased them, as the director, Claire Guyot, reminds us.
Alceste is an honest man, candid, who says what he thinks. This confrontation between ideal and reason, intransigence and compromise, will earn him explanations with his faithful or truly false friend, Philinte, who observes the antics of the advisors and experts of all kinds, in suits, and aligns himself with their rules.
And to savor the well-deployed arguments, sometimes vehement, but nothing in Molière’s language suggests tepidness or insipidity. The transitional objects of today — whiskey, cell phones, elevators, sports bags offered by the staging — do not detract from this desire for integrity, truth, and strength that Alceste demonstrates.
The contrast between the choleric lover, masterfully portrayed by Pierre Margot, and his beloved, played by Aurélie Noblesse, light and amusing, is surprising. This successful transposition of this tragicomedy with cinematographic-worthy staging and quality lighting shows us that the vices of a society of courtiers and hypocrites, prone to orbit in a political milieu tinged with corruption and false pretenses to gain influence, are permanent from one era to another.
Roland Haugade
