Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
comedy-ballet by Molière
directed by Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq
Richelieu
Richelieu
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
2025-05-07 20:30:00 2025-07-20 23:30:00
In June 2021, the Valérie Lesort-Christian Hecq duo presented an astonishing “Bourgeois gentilhomme”, set to the lively rythms of Balkan music.
“Turqueries” were in fashion in 1670 when Molière wrote this comedy for a lavish royal occasion. It excelled both in the representation of the exoticism in vogue at the time, and in its caricature of a middle-class social climber keen to adopt the good manners deemed the hallmark of “quality people”. The entire stage is taken over by the flighty behaviour of a man clumsily practicing dancing and fencing, or giving philosophy a try with childlike simplicity. His wife and maid are the first to make fun of him, objecting his increasingly authoritarian stance, especially when he refuses to let his daughter marry Cléonte because he is not a noble. The mockery is further intensified thanks to the valet’s ruse of introducing the lover into the family home disguised as a “great Turk”, offering a crowd-pleasing finale with the Mamamouchi scene.
Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq happily exploit everything that feeds the eccentricity of a Monsieur Jourdain frantically attracted to all things royal: “He is boundlessly naive and this naiveté is particularly touching. Like many artists, our work is based on childlike wonder. Molière’s Bourgeois is a child playing pretend. […] Childhood dreams are the most powerful type because they have not been yet tarnished by the shackles of educations and norms. These dreams are pure.” This show for all audiences is replete with poetic charm and the madness of childhood games.
This show premiered on June 18, 2021 at the Salle Richelieu
ON DVD
Available in the Shop
BOOKING OPENS ON
JAN 25
2h20 (without intermission)
Creative team
Directed by : Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq
Distribution
the company
-
Véronique
See biography
Vella -
Sylvia
See biography
Bergé -
Françoise
See biography
Gillard -
Laurent
See biography
Stocker -
Guillaume
See biography
Gallienne -
Christian
See biography
Hecq -
Nicolas
See biography
Lormeau -
Clément
See biography
Hervieu-Léger -
Didier
See biography
Sandre -
Gaël
See biography
Kamilindi -
Yoann
See biography
Gasiorowski -
Jean
See biography
Chevalier -
Nicolas
See biography
Chupin -
Marie
See biography
Oppert
and Comédie-Française Academy actors and actresses,
and musicians and dancer :
Ivica Bogdanić : Musician, accordion, percussion
Rémi Boissy : Dancer, tailor boy and puppet manipulation
Julien Oury : Musician, trombone, tuba
Alon Peylet : Musician, trombone, trumpet, tuba
Victor Rahola : Musician, helicon
Martin Saccardy : Musician, trumpet
