Anne Kessler ・ Comédie-Française

Anne Kessler trained with Antoine Vitez at the École du Théâtre national de Chaillot. Often cast in classical repertory at the Comédie-Française, she is equally comfortable in comical, tragic and romantic roles. She has performed in major plays by contemporary authors staged for the Company.

It has to be said that Anne Kessler truly embraces her roles; the characters she passionately plays have become synonymous with her interpretation. She has been Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Lee Breuer, Angustias in Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba by Lilo Baur, Axioucha in Ostrovsky’s The Forest by Piotr Fomenko, Calérie in Gorki’s Summerfolk by Gérard Desarthe, Marthe in Maurice Maeterlinck’s Intérieur by Nâzim Boudjenah, Mère Ubu in Alfred Jarry’s Ubu roi by Jean-Pierre Vincent in 2009. Jean-Pierre Vincent had previously cast her in the role of Florestine in La Mère coupable by Beaumarchais in 1990. For Arnaud Desplechin, she has been Laura, the captain’s wife in August Strindberg’s The Father. In 2018, she has created the role of C in Poussière written and directed by Lars Norén.

Among the renowned directors who wished to work with her have been: Georges Lavaudant for Lorenzaccio by Musset, Jacques Lassalle for two plays by Goldoni, La Serva amorosa and Il Campiello, as well as for Platonov or Fatherlessness by Chekhov. Her collaboration with Alain Françon on Ibsen’s The Wild Duck would prove to be crucial to her career. They reunited again on the Villegiatura Trilogy by Goldoni and onthe Cherry Orchard by Chekhov. At the request of Guillaume Gallienne, she has been playing in On the Road, also by Chekhov.

Her encounters with certain authors have similarly been of fundamental importance in her career. From the work by Molière, she played Mademoiselle Molière in L’Impromptu de Versailles by Jean-Luc Boutté, Frosine in The Miser (L’Avare) and Angélique in George Dandin by Catherine Hiegel, Mariannein Tartuffe by Dominique Pitoiset, Julie in Monsieur de Pourceaugnac by Philippe Adrien. From the work written by Beaumarchais, she played Suzanne in The Marriage of Figaro (Le Mariage de Figaro) by Christophe Rauck, Rosine in The Barber of Seville (Le Barbier de Séville) by Jean-Luc Boutté. And from Feydeau’s opus, she held up the roles of Clothilde Pontagnac in Le Dindon by Lukas Hemleb and Angélique in The Free Exchange Hotel (L’Hôtel du Libre-Échange) by Isabelle Nanty.

To her acting talents, Anne Kessler has added those of director by turning to texts she has found to be moving or shocking. She has directed the actors of the Company in Grief(s), based on texts written by Strindberg, Ibsen and Bergman and adapted by Guy Zilberstein; Trois hommes dans un salon based on an interview with Ferré, Brassens and Brel by François-René Cristiani; La Double Inconstance by Marivaux and La Ronde after Schnitzler. She staged Les Naufragés by Guy Zilberstein in 2015, and played and directed Coupes Sombres by the same author. This show was taken over to play at the Théâtre du Rond-Point. In 2018, she staged a new adaptation of Strindberg’s The Creditors at the Studio-Théâtre. Equally, she is directing the reading of Shakespeare’s Richard III at the Maison de la Radio for the 450th anniversary of the British writer’s birth. In 2012, she directed the student actors of the Comédie-Française’s academy in Thomas Voltelli, a text by Guy Zilberstein at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier.

At the Comédie-Française, Anne Kessler has conceived the mural of Courteline’s Un client sérieux by Nicolas Lormeau and the canvases of Molière Psyché paintedat the request of Véronique Vella. She has also directed a video of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac by Denis Podalydès.

Outside of the Comédie-Française, she has directed Daniel Keyes’ Des fleurs pour Algernon in 2012, which won the Prix du meilleur spectacle privé at the 2013 Palmarès du Théâtre and the 2014 Molière Award for Best One Man Show for Grégory Gadebois.

During the 2018/2019 season, she will been playing in Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny et Alexandre directed by Julie Deliquet and in the rerun of Feydeau’s Free Exchange Hotel directed by Isabelle Nanty. She will also have her Paradoxe(s) Être ensemble et soi-même, dans un même temps, un même lieu, une même entité. Her Grenier des acteurs will be dedicated to Marquis de Sade.