Saturday January 15 at 8:10 p.m., in a cinema chair, a large audience will be able to discover live from the French The Tartuffe, the most performed work by the Comédie-Française but such as we have never seen it before. Because Tartuffe had been censored in 1664 by Louis XIV, the day after his first and only performance. Director Ivo van Hove unearths the play in its original version with the striking Christophe Montenez in the title role, and Denis Podalydès and Dominique Blanc in particular.
The reason for this censorship 358 years ago is political: Louis XIV appreciates the play, but it touches on a sensitive subject, the devotion advocated by the Jansenist Catholics. Tartuffe or the hypocrite is the story of two devotees: Orgon, ridiculous by his blindness and Tartuffe, a true devotee torn by his temptations. The Jansenists are furious: for them, the whole Church is under attack. They obtain censorship from the king for five years.
The playwright, who is not an anti-religious author, rewrites the play several times and turns Tartuffe into a crook: he no longer satirizes devotion but shows the scam of a false devotee. His play is finally authorized. On February 5, 1669, it sold out at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal.
Molière then explains in the preface to his new Tartuffe that the vocation of the theater is to “correcting men while entertaining them”, in other words d‘”attack with ridiculous paintings the vices of his century”. He has just inaugurated moralizing laughter.
From January 15, 2022, as part of the anniversary season of the 400th anniversary of the birth of the playwright, the Comédie-Française will therefore play for the first time in its history the original version of the Tartuffe or the hypocrite, under the direction of Belgian director Ivo van Hove. This shorter version only consists of three acts, instead of five.
In the absence of the manuscript, it is reborn thanks to the work of the academic Georges Forestier, a great specialist in Molière. An event !
Saturday January 15, 2022 at 8:10 p.m., live broadcast from the Richelieu room of the Comédie-Française in 200 cinemas throughout France (Pathé, Gaumont, Kinepolis, Mégarama, Cinéville and many independent cinemas):
“The Tartuffe and the Hypocrite”, Premiere of this new creation directed by Ivo van Hove
With: Claude Mathieu, Denis Podalydès, Loïc Corbery, Christophe Montenez, Dominique Blanc, Julien Frison, Marina Hands
Followed by “Homage to Molière” by the Comédie-Française Troupe
Reservation