It is the oldest theater company in the world, baptized as “house of Molière” because it was created in homage to the great French playwright.
Paris (AFP).- La Comedie Française, in the heart of Paris, a stone’s throw from the Louvre Museum, is the oldest theater company in the world. It is called the “house of Molière” because it was created in homage to the great playwright, who never got to know it.
Four hundred years after the birth of Molière (1622-1673), his effigy can be found in numerous corners of the venerable building, located next to the Royal Palace.
Molière’s bust is omnipresent, but the most revered relic is the old leather and wood armchair, protected in a glass case, in which the author lay dying during a performance of the imaginary patient, before succumbing at home.
“In a certain way, it is the only object that we have left from his theatre”, he explains to the AFP Agathe Sanjuan, curator and archivist of the French Comedy.
The armchair was used by actors until 1879. Worn out, “it has such a presence that it seems that Molière is still sitting,” he adds.
Every year a play by Molière
In the corridors of the French Comedy one can come across actors like Denis Podalydès or Dominique Blanc. For good luck, they frequently touch the busts of Molière. But at the headquarters, honors are also paid to other outstanding members of his company.
The French Comedy was born in 1680, seven years after the playwright’s death, when King Louis XIV, his great protector, decided that the orphaned company should merge with another.
The company wanders through four Parisian halls before settling definitively in the Richelieu hall, next to the Royal Palace, where it has performed without interruption since 1799. A stone’s throw from Molière’s home, where he died.
His death is recorded in the most valuable document French Comedy possesses, known as the register of La Grange, Molière’s right-hand man, which documented the activities of the troupe.
In addition to the chair and that register, the Comedy keeps in its museum library a cap and a valuable watch with the name of the immortal writer.
The archives show that “there has not been a single year in which (the French Comedy) has not represented Molière,” Sanjuan points out.
The “house” works according to the sacrosanct principle of alternation, with a different show every night, which implies mobilizing all the company’s services from morning to night, in shifts.
“We are the first theater in France (except operas) in volume of activity: 400 employees, 70 craft activities, 60 actors”, adds its general manager, Eric Ruf.
The sets, due to their size, are built in workshops located in Sarcelles, on the outskirts of Paris. The costumes, the tapestry, are in the Richelieu Room, in a labyrinth of several floors. In their warehouses they have registered more than 50,000 clothing items.
“We do between 50 and 70 costumes per creation” theatrical, says Sylvie Lombard, costume director.
Some actors declaim while trying on the clothes, reveals the head seamstress, Lionel Hermouet.
Mohamed Arbia, deputy director of props, says that the demands of directors have changed drastically in the last five years. “Thomas Ostermeier wanted a ‘beach’ for King’s Night, of Shakespeare, so we poured two tons of sand every night: Ivo van Hove wanted something that looked like mud in the staging of Electra/Orestes”.
Pensioners and partners
The French Comedy owes its longevity to the fact that it is a cooperative of actors. “It’s a self-management that hasn’t changed since Molière,” says Ruf.
The new actors are admitted as “pensioners” for one year, renewable.
Only after a certain time can they become “partners”, following the decision of a committee of seven members who have that status (and which also decides on salary increases).
The last to become a numerary “partner” is Dominique Blanc, this January. It’s number 538.
“The manager hires, the actors fire,” says an internal company saying. Indeed, it is the partners who can decide on the departure of a person, like the notorious dismissal of Catherine Hiegel in 2009.
“It may seem violent, but it’s a way to protect yourself,” explains Eric Ruf. Many actors have great careers in the French Comedy, but “the longevity of this house is due” to that renovation policy. “Otherwise its history would have ended in 1700″, he assures.
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