Yet, it condenses the main themes of his theatre in a way that is unmatched by any other of his plays. Two fantasies are extraordinarily intertwined: that of the gynaeceum, the inner sanctum reserved to women, and that of power, which, incarnated by an absent ruler whose return is uncertain, is multiplied tenfold.

In leaving to besiege Babylon, Sultan Amurat has entrusted his favourite concubine Roxane with his powers. Suspicious of the ambitions of his brother Bajazet, whom he has confined to the seraglio, he has a messenger take a letter to the new Sultana with an order to put Bazajet to death. Meanwhile, the Grand Vizier Acomat, sensing he has fallen from favour, conspires to have Bajazet accede to the throne: he kills the messenger slave and organises a meeting between his protégé and Roxane, with the aim of making her fall in love with the latter and hand over power to him. Princess Atalide, whom he plans to marry, serves as his intermediary. All are unaware of the secret love that has united Bajazet and Atalide since childhood.

The seraglio thatÉric Ruf staged in 2017 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier and described as the seat of power meeting the setting of absolute intimacy, acted as a sounding chamber: “rarely has a heart damaged by love been so well represented by a fictional setting: Racine concentrates his depiction of the vagaries of the heart in this setting, where the physical space reflects that of feeling, and the architecture of the seraglio that of inner twists and turns. There is no tragic wind here, no Corinthian capitals, no mythology but a more concrete, more narrative description of the wavering of the human heart.

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Premiered in 1672, Bajazet was, until 1815, one of the most regularly staged plays in the Repertoire – performed a few times every year. Thereafter, the audience was not so sure of seeing it as often as it was no longer part of the “Repertoire collection”, i.e. the Troupe’s core list of plays, which it performed more intensely than today as more than one hundred plays were staged annually. In fact Bajazet only returned to the stage when some great actors took possession of the lead roles – Rachel played Roxane from her debut in 1838 until 1854 – or when the performances were refreshed with a new cast. Adeline Dudlay (Roxane) and Albert-Lambert (Bajazet) dominated the 1887 revival, and Madeleine Roch and Mme Segond-Weber shared the roles of Roxane and Atalide from 1905. An oriental play, Bajazet is an expensive work for the theatre to stage in terms of sets and costumes.

It was in 1937 that, for the first time, a director, Jacques Copeau, took charge of the play. His cast included Maurice Escande, Mary Marquet and Véra Korène, the sets were designed by Louis Sue and the costumes by Marie-Hélène Dasté. This marked the first use of painted costumes at the Comédie-Française, these garments replacing the traditional embroideries. Jacques Copeau imposed his own aesthetic of simplified forms, both for the costumes and for the finely drawn sets. In doing so, he broke from the style of past performances of the play, in which embroidered textiles enhanced with gems or very complex decorations with rich curtains had been favoured, to represent the opulence of the seraglio. His directorial approach left a strong impression: in 1949 Maurice Escande directed a new production “after the Jacques Copeau staging” and in his 1957 production, Jean Marchat also kept the 1937 costumes and sets.

In 1966, Michel Etcheverry directed a production with new costumes and sets, before Éric Vignier took on the play in 1995 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier. Éric Ruf, who was cast in the title role in the latter production, proposed his own vision of the play at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in 2017, designing the scenography as well as directing.

• Bajazet, 1933 (1) © photo. Manuel frères / Coll. Comédie-Française

Staging and scenography: Éric Ruf
Costumes**:** Renato Bianchi
Lights**:** Franck Thévenon
Sound**:** Dominique Bataille
Make-up  and hairstyling : Catherine Bloquère
Artistic collabotation**:** Claude Mathieu
Assistant stage manager**:** Thomas Gendronneau
Assistant scenography**:** Caroline Frachet