Check That One Off



Photo from Le Figaro:  Read the full review here (in French):  http://blog.lefigaro.fr/theatre/2009/09/lavare-au-francais-une-serenit.html

Monday night I had the opportunity to check an item off my "things to do in Paris before I leave" list:  attending a play at the Comédie-Française.  The show was L'Avare (The Miser) by Molière.  I had every intention of reading it in its entirety in French ahead of time.  Unfortunately, I ran out of time and only made it about halfway through in the original; I finished up by skimming the English language version.

The setting in the Salle Richelieu was pretty spectacular; it's not a huge theater and I'm betting that there isn't a bad seat in the house.  I can't tell you for sure though because my seat couldn't have been better:  2nd row in the center of the first balcony.  And it did give me kind of a chill realizing that Molière wrote the piece and performed the lead role himself with the same group of players; the building itself is a bit younger, dating from just after the French Revolution. 

My French still isn't up to snuff for the theater but I was able to follow along with the sense of things even if I didn't get all the jokes.  Some actors were certainly easier to understand than others! But even when I was losing track of the dialogue, I could still enjoy the marvelous set design, the costumes, and of course, lots of mugging by the actors.  It is after all a comedy.

If you are in Paris, the production continues into January although many of the performances are already sold out.

Buy tickets for L'Avare