For the 400th anniversary of Molière's birth, his plays flourished in Paris and elsewhere. At the Théâtre des Variétés, we happily find L'Avare, directed by Daniel Benoin with Michel Boujenah in the title role.
It is in an imposing and sober setting, signed Jean-Pierre Laporte, that Valère and Elise, our young lovers upset by the stinginess of their father's Harpagon appear. The petulant Mélissa Prat and the fiery Mathieu Métral set the tone for the staging: lively, embodied, resolutely contemporary.
Shortly afterwards Cléante, played by the bluffing Antonin Chalon, joins his sister in his recriminations against the severity of their father who leads them the hard life, as to his servants of the rest. The plot is almost tied: Cléante loves Marianne (the beautiful Fanny Valette) and wants to marry her, it is the same for Valère and Elise but against all odds, Harpagon also wants to marry Marianne and destines his children to parties less advantageous for them but more for his shields.
The Miser: Remarkable Acting
Michel Boujenah offers us a remarkable acting: far from being locked in the comic and the expected effects, he gives us to see all the tragedy of the life of this sad man, prisoner of his addiction to money, he upsets us over the course of the play and the direction of the staging ends in apotheosis in the final scene.
The amused nods to the resolution of the plot with theater in the theater bring a breath of joyful exuberance and madness in which the wonderful Sophie Gourdin playing Frosine and the so amusing Bruno Andrieux (La Flèche/Anselme) and Fabien Houssaye (Commissioner / Brindavoine) are inscribed.
Let's not forget the breathtaking Paul Chariéras in the role of Master Jacques and Julien Nacache, brilliant at the level of all his playing partners in the role of hake.
We could talk to you about the play at great length but the best thing is still that you run to see this excellent production and superb team, on stage until mid-May! Young and old will enjoy discovering or rediscovering this great classic!
Review written by Marie
