Marquise is a drama about the rise and fall of a beauteous actress. As cheerfully portrayed by Sophie Marceau, the eponymous heroine is an engagingly ribald, but perhaps rather too modern, character. She rises from an impoverished background to become a favourite of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and the mistress of the celebrated Racine, who wrote roles especially for her; but her fate, in the end, is a tragic one.
Serge Tanneur is at the pinnacle of his acting career when he decides to turn his back on show business and become a hermit living off of France’s Atlantic coast. Three years later, Gauthier Valence, a beloved TV actor, shows up on the island to offer Serge a role in his directorial debut – a rendition of Molière’s classic play, “The Misanthrope”. Serge refuses at first, but then suggests that they rehearse the first scene and after five days he’ll decide if he wants to dothe play or not. What ensues is a battle of brawn and wits and peculiar encounters with a hotel maid who longs to be a pornstar and an Italian divorcée.
Praised at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, dedicated to Molières 2019 by Molière for directing for Mathilda May, and for female revelation with Ariane Mourier, Le Banquet is a singular, strong, surprising and universal show. A wedding where everything goes wrong, a banquet where everything suddenly shatters. Without words but in a universal language, the characters love each other, confront each other, meet again, and get lost in a funny and hectic whirlwind. After the immense success of Open Space and when Mr. X was created with Pierre Richard, Mathilda May continues to make us dream and presents us here with a unique fresco. An exceptional spectacle.
In this adaptation of the play by Molière, Monsieur Jourdain, social climber, nouveau rich but naive, dreams of being recognized in high society. He hires masters of music, dance, philosophy. He has gone mad with thoughts of honors, decorations, and power.
