Alain Pralon ・ Comédie-Française

After training at the Rue Blanche School and at the Conservatoire national d'art dramatique (National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts) of Paris, Alain Pralon joined the Comédie-Française on September 1, 1965. Appointed as a sociétaire on January 1, 1972, he was named a sociétaire honoraire on January 1, 2006.

Clever, a prankster and a joker, he had the required humor profile and the dose of humanity needed to embody the characters of valets in a number of famous plays. Hence, he successfully performed the roles of La Flèche, Covielle, Mascarille, Sganarelle, Pasquin, Frontin, Dandin, and Brighella, etc. Even though his performances were brilliant in this field, his sensibility, his eloquence and his panache blossomed through more nuanced characters, such as Demetrius in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, Philinte in Molière’s The Misanthrope, Cyrano in Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac as well as Figaro in Beaumarchais’s The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro.

Equally comfortable in both the classic and contemporary repertoire, he has appeared in plays by Vitrac, Stoppard, Mirbeau, Ibsen, Chekhov, Billetdoux, Calaferte, Artaud or Becque. Alain Pralon has played the role of Chrysale in Molière's Les Femmes savantes staged by Simon Eine in 1998 and of Ossipin Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector (The Revizor) put on stage by Jean-Louis Benoît in 1999. The success of Molière’sThe Imaginary Invalid staged by Claude Stratz was partly due to his interpretation of the main role Argan. Among other plays he has appeared in, one can name Karl Georg Büchner’s Lenz, Leonce and Lena under the direction of Langhoff in 2002, Adam de la Halle’s The Play of Adam put on stage by Jacques Rebotier in 2003, Fabrice Melquiot’s Bouli redéboule directed by Philippe Lagrue in 2005. Under the direction of Jacques Lassalle, he played in Chekhov’s Platonov or Fatherlessness in2005 as well as in Carlo Goldoni’s Il Campiello (The Little Square) in 2006. He reunited with Claude Stratz in 2005 for her staging of Pirandello’s Les Grelots du fou – Caps and Bells. A great reciter, he chose to read, without any set design or any kind of accessory, words by Jules Renard (2000), Jonathan Swift (2002), Kateb Yacine (2003), Guy de Maupassant (2004), and Victor Hugo (2002).

He staged Élisabeth Janvier’s Embarquement immédiat, Raymond Jean’s La Rencontre de Vincennes / Sade et Mirabeau in 2000 and Ah, vous voilà Dumas !, an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ dramatic memories in 2003. Furthermore, he played under the direction of Laurent Pelly in Carlo Goldoni’s The Liar (Le Menteur) during the 2008/2009 season, of Dan Jemmett in Dorine Hollier’s Le Donneur de bain in 2010.

On the big screen, he appeared in Roger Coggio’s movie C'est encore loin l’Amérique ? (1980), in Pascale Ferran’s Coming to Terms with The Dead (Petits arrangements avec les morts) in 1994, as well as in Jean Douchet’s La Serva Amorosa (The Loving Maid, 1994). At the same time, Alain Pralon is currently working as the coordinator of the Comédie-Française for the recording of the plays for France Culture radio station.

Alain
Pralon

At the Comédie-Française

2008-2009

2007-2008

2006-2007

2005-2006

2004-2005

2003-2004

2002-2003

2001-2002

2000-2001

1999-2000

1998-1999

1997-1998

1996-1997

1995-1996

1994-1995

1993-1994

1992-1993

1991-1992

1990-1991

1989-1990

1988-1989

1987-1988

1986-1987

1985-1986

1984-1985

1983-1984

1982-1983

1981-1982

1980-1981

1979-1980

1978-1979

1977-1978

1976-1977

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