A political evening, rhythmic, and which gave pride of place to private theater. The 34th night of Molières unveiled its winners on Monday. While some of the award-winning shows are no longer performed, others are still visible in theaters in Paris and on tour. Discover the selection of Le Figaro, made by our journalists.
Forget Me is the adaptation of a theatrical text by English playwright Matthew Seager on early Alzheimer’s. It is he, Arthur, played by Thierry Lopez who will be struck by this evil and it is, she Jeanne, formidable Marie-Julie Baup, who will accompany him in his downfall. But the prowess of these two actors and their staging is to never sink into pathos. Besides, everything starts lightly. A meeting on the slightly syrupy song of F.R David, Words (don’t come easy), which will become the anthem of this couple. Decor, accessories, costumes, everything is rosy in the universe of Jeanne and Arthur. And everything stays rosy during the play. Even when the disease is there and it takes more and more space in their lives. How do you remember beautiful things when they fade in Arthur’s memory? Jeanne is there, she is the guardian of their memory and she is the one who tries to stay on the side of their life in pink. She does not do it naively. But lovingly. And that tilts this piece not in tragedy but in immense tenderness. An overwhelming tenderness. F.A.
Forget me, a show to see until May 27 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin (Paris 10th).
A dystopia in 1979, Starmania was overtaken in terms of horrors by the reality of the world. Since then, we have seen a far-right businessman become President of the United States, terrorism do unimaginable damage then (September 11, 2001, November 13, 2015), global warming threaten the future of the planet , telecrochets and the desire to be famous grow. So many subjects that Plamondon, genius of the formula that slaps, had anticipated in texts whose suggestive and subversive scope at the same time had been forgotten. The casting of the singers, particularly successful, allows them to never be in imitation, detaching themselves from the overwhelming interpretations of Daniel Balavoine, Fabienne Thibeault, Diane Dufresne and France Gall. From beginning to end, the staging of Starmania is crossed by a violence and a darkness absent from the original version. In 2022, there is no more hope. Grey, black and red won. A rather audacious bias for a show intended for a very large audience, which never gives in to demagoguery. WE.
Starmania, a show to see on tour at the Sud de France Arena in Montpellier from April 27 to 29, then at La Seine Musicale in Paris from November 14 to 17, 2023 and at the Zenith in Nantes from February 20 to 23, 2024.
Arnaud is worried, his companion Marion still seems under the spell of Thomas, the real estate agent who has just estimated the price of their house. The danger is all the greater since they have been together for seven years and, as everyone knows, that year marks a turning point within a couple. Arnaud then imagines a scheme to eliminate the possible rival. A brilliant idea is already filling up at the Michel Theater. Arnaud’s idea is of course not so great. He is still unaware that Thomas has a look-alike whose appearance leads to a cascade of comical misunderstandings. And he is not at the end of his surprises. This vaudeville of today worthy of a good Feydeau is brilliant insofar as Sébastien Castro has chosen to play several roles under the direction of José Paul, who himself interprets Arnaud. Until wetting his shirt. Misunderstandings accumulate and doors slam. The actors are having a great time, wandering noisily through all the rooms of the house and from bottom to top. Let’s face it, Sébastien Castro is not as charismatic as his character as a real estate agent, but is full of comedic talents. A veritable Swiss army knife, the actor has also distinguished himself in some twenty films, in particular in All that Shines, by Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran (2010), and recently Un tour chez ma fille, by Éric Lavaine. Over the years, he has gained a following of followers who do not miss any of his performances. N.S.
A brilliant idea, a show to see until December 31, 2023 at the Michel Theater (Paris 8th). Loc. : 01 42 65 35 02.
Sylvie Testud appears in front of a black suitcase in a setting and lights that already freeze the public. Abnormally pale face, loose blond hair, bare arms, in jeans and sneakers, she IS Valérie Bacot. Terrorized by her executioner, whom she calls “The Other”. A swing hung with thick chains and a bench look abandoned. The latter will serve as a bed and a shelf where this mother will place the toys of the four children born of her union with her torturer who was her stepfather before becoming, with the consent of her own mother, her husband. He beats her, rapes her and prostitutes her for years. Valérie Bacot told it with Clémence Blasi in a book, Everyone knew, published by Fayard editions. No one will come to his aid. Neither his relatives, nor the gendarmes, nor the family of “The other”, nor even the inhabitants of his village. Everyone knew, she laments, and yet no one acted. “One day, so he wouldn’t kill us, I killed him,” she wrote. It’s hard not to be touched when you see this alone on stage interpreted by an astonishingly truthful Sylvie Testud in Anne Bouvier’s directing. The spectators let out sighs of amazement, horror and compassion. And come with tears in their eyes. They heard a story they will never forget and saw a great actress. N.S.
Everyone knew, on tour from September 2023 until January 2024.
When Aïda Asgharzadeh wrote Persian Dolls in 2018, inspired by the story of her parents exiled by the Iranian Revolution, she did not imagine that this piece could have a particular resonance four years later. Since the demonstrations triggered at the end of September by the death in detention of the young Mahsa Amini, the 35-year-old Franco-Iranian author no longer looks at her play in the same way. The Persian Dolls, directed by Régis Vallée, is freely inspired by the story of his parents, politically committed against the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, before fleeing the country with the establishment of the Islamic regime. It is the story of a failure, but also a tribute to his parents. “When I was little, I remember that I didn’t understand why my parents kept saying ‘we failed’; they didn’t explain it to me,” she recalls. A moving return to the past. In the play, she imagines a slightly different story, that of two university couples aspiring to a change of regime in the 1970s. The scenes follow one another with flashbacks between the Iran of that time and the France of the early 2000s.
The Persian Dolls, a show to see on May 13 at the Corbeil-Essonne theater then at the Parisian Béliers Theater from September 14, 2023.