[VIDEO] Theater in Nîmes: Grégoire Aubert presents a feminine “Tartuffe” by Molière

You present a feminist version of “Tartuffe”. What does that mean ?

More feminine than feminist. It’s joyful, it’s not combat feminism. We are in a more subliminal message, already because we rely on the text of Molière.

The text is completely reworked…

It is remodeled. These are the words of Molière, with the respect of the Alexandrians. Most of the adaptation work was to make cuts, to reassign a few lines. I respect the letter and the spirit. But I refocused around the story I wanted to tell.

The heart is not modified, it is of course this Tartuffe, which gave a word returned in the current language, which has the stranglehold on a family and on a fortune. And how is this family going to cope with this devotion and manipulation? It is the women who lead the revolt. It was my bias.

Thanks to your work, the room becomes very accessible, even to children!

There are a few complicated words, but it’s accessible because we are in a contemporary logic, with a succession of paintings. It’s visual, it’s musical, it moves a lot, there are gags. Passing from one universe to another, the children do not bother. It’s not a show for young audiences, it’s a show for all audiences that can be seen from the age of 8.

Lovers of Molière meet there. If he had problems with censorship, it’s because he was doing what we do today. He denounced, he showed the failings of society. Molière’s strength is to be completely timeless. He talks about human relationships, love stories, money, power. The social straitjacket is no longer the same but the postures remain and “Tartuffe” has lost none of its liveliness and sharpness.

What seduces you in this text?

For me, there is no point in staging Molière as he would have done at the time. I was looking for and I set my sights on “Tartuffe” because we are talking about religion. I am not talking about beliefs, but about the weight of religions and the way people live them. This weight on consciences and on freedoms speaks to me enormously. It is very current, there is a resurgence with multiple religions. I come from a Catholic family, I spent my life getting out of it. There are other religions today where the battle is to be waged.

It is the servants, the governesses who show a certain good sense. Women are essential. I refocused, there are fewer characters than in the original text. Dorine, Elmire and Marianne are the three female figures who will lead the revolt.

There are only three actresses…

…who play all the characters. But Tartuffe is not a woman. Orgon either.

For this, there is a game with masks…

We are not in the commedia dell’arte. I am not a theater theorist, I am a practitioner. The actresses are musicians, singers, one is a dancer. Some clowned around. I use their talents. Masks really have a use in caricature and this allows these women to play the male roles, to give a fairly precise and quickly identifiable type to the characters.

It’s a burlesque farce, with all the subtleties of its text that echo contemporary situations, with a musical dressing by Benjamin Civil full of winks.

In the staging, you constantly play between caricature and preciousness.

I like calling a spade a spade, not doing things by halves. And at the same time, there is Molière behind, what he wrote. If you think you’re smarter than the text, there’s no point in editing it. This respect brings nuance.