(Paris) Molière, the dusty theater of 400 years ago? Beyond the Alexandrines which they find “complicated”, high school students of the TikTok generation who dabble in the plays of the playwright find him “great. fun “And” topicality “, especially in the #metoo era.
In the Espace Cardin studio in Paris, a dozen students from the prestigious Lycée Montaigne rehearsed extracts from three pieces by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin in December, for the anniversary of his birth celebrated on January 15.
“With you, marriage is unfortunate and painful and your speeches make a terrible image of it,” says Zélie Henock, 17 years old. She plays Agnes, the heroine of Women’s school seeking to free herself from the grip of Arnolphe who raised her cloistered in the greatest ignorance to make her a submissive wife.
Strong female roles
The play created in 1662, the primary objective of which is to make people laugh, is considered as a plea by Molière in favor of young people, but also by some for the education of women.
The work “absolutely has its place” in today’s society, told AFP Zélie who, like her classmates in the final year, is enrolled in a theater specialty.
“Speech is freed from violence (against women). We are fairly well trained on these subjects via social networks and the news, ”she adds.
The teenager finds echoes in today’s society where “we are almost all confronted in one way or another with a kind of psychological or even physical abuse”.
The staging of Sandra Faure, an actress from the Théâtre de la Ville who is a partner of the lycée in teaching theater, highlights the authority of Arnolphe, played by Samuel Dupuis, 17, who pretends to abuse physically Agnes when he discovers that she is in love with young Horace.
For Samuel, times and situations may be different, “the links are very easily made with the life we can have today”.
Éliette Pernot, white shirt and black pants, has chosen to interpret Tartuffe, facing Hannah Bendel, in a sequined dress and heels, who plays Elmire seeking to convince her husband Orgon of the hypocrisy of the false devotee.
During the famous scene where Elmire unmasks Tartuffe who wants to seduce her, Éliette puts her head between Hannah’s legs. The teacher puts them at ease: “Are you okay?” I know it’s difficult ”; the two girls laugh and the atmosphere is good-natured.
Hannah says she was “enormously touched” by the scene which reminds her of “victims of assault and sexual harassment.”
For her, “Molière made a lot of very modern characters and imagined roles that would have such a strong impact later on”.
Éliette also emphasizes that Molière is “still relevant” and that, without going so far as to say that he was “feminist”, she appreciates the strong female roles in her plays. “They are the ones who make the plot and make things happen”.
Women at Molière were also the common thread of the work carried out by Marie Basuyaux with her students for two years. “When last year I asked them for a scenography for Women’s school, they suggested that I tag the walls of Arnolphe’s house with slogans like what feminist collectives do ”.
“We have to get started! “
Beyond the echo of the pieces, they especially made them laugh a lot… once the Alexandrines had been mastered.
Because many references, expressions and jokes escape the students of the XXIe century, especially on first reading.
“Of course it’s classic”, but “it’s great fun », Assures Samuel who finds« super funny all that is misunderstanding and the way to give lines ».
His generation should not, according to him, “have prejudices”. “It can be a bit complicated language, a bit boring world, but it’s worth going to see the pieces!” “.
And if Zélie was able to overcome the difficulty of the language through the game, Éliette adored “speaking in Alexandrines”. “Okay, then we have to get started,” she laughs.