La Double Inconstance

“It is with The Double Inconstancy that I discovered Marivaux, that I started to love him, and, loving him, that I understood that his language and his theatre goes far beyond words.” This encounter initially came through acting for Anne Kessler, who played the role of Silvia before directing Marivaux in 2014 in the Salle Richelieu.
It wasn’t until 1934 that The Double Inconstancy entered the repertoire. In this play, Marivaux analyses the meanders and the vagaries of romantic feelings with the detachment of a doctor of human emotions, without passing judgement and in a flowing and virtuoso language that is a delight for the actors. In her choice of staging, Anne Kessler, sociétaire of the Comédie-Française, explores the parallel between the progression of the plot and the creation of a theatre production. The play is performed as much its creative process is recounted in a hybrid space between the rehearsal room and the theatre stage. The sets and costumes recreate the dynamics of this experimental plot staged with manipulative cruelty by the Prince and Flaminia to lure Silvia away from Harlequin. The sincere love uniting these two young country people is subjected to a series of tests that pull them apart in order, perhaps, to bind them back together stronger than ever.