Comédie Française (HD broadcast), 08/03/2018
Marivaux : Le petit-maître corrigé
Comédie Française
Directed by Clément Hervieu-Léger
Marivaux is to the French language what Alexander Pope is to English, a master of both form and style, an absolute precision of use allied to an exceptional grace of expression, and a sharp, often devastating wit lightly disguised with elegant frivolities. Pope's talent was largely exercised in poetry; Marivaux chose the theatre. Le petit-maître corrigé (rendered in English as "The Fop Reformed") was written for the Comédie Française in 1734, received two performances, and then was not seen in its home again (nor anywhere else much) for almost three hundred years, when the Comédie Française revived it in this production late in 2016.
The term "petit-maître" was once used to designate young gentlemen of the nobility proficient in arms, but also well-educated and well-connected, who could and did distinguish themselves both in combat and in society. By the early 18th Century, the military aspect of the character had faded away, leaving only a particular type of blasé, pretentious, idle, wealthy, upper-class youth, who considered it infra dig to show any genuine emotions, let alone something as bourgeois as love, and became figures of fun in literature. Aside from mocking the pretensions of such a character, Marivaux also has a go at the habitual conflict between capital and provinces, with Rosimond (Loïc Corbery), the titular fop, being a young gentleman of fashion come from Paris to make an advantageous marriage with Hortense (Claire de la Rüe du Can), a young provincial aristocrat.
Although the two are attracted to each other from the outset, Rosimond's condescension and extravagant airs and graces are very off-putting to Hortense, who allies with her servant, Marton (Adeline d'Hermy), and Rosimond's valet, Frontin (Christophe Montenez), to persuade Rosimond that his interests will be much better served if he drops his affected attitude and expresses himself honestly. Adding their pinch of salt to the mix are Dorimène (Florence Viala), Rosimond's most recent flirt, and Dorante (Clément Hervieu-Léger), his best friend, also from the capital. Le petit-maître corrigé displays many of Marivaux's most characteristic traits; the servants who are mirror-images of their masters, the mutual incomprehension of at least one, if not more, pairs of lovers, whose difficulties are exacerbated by an overdose of pride on one or both sides, the bitter-sweet nature of the comedy, for few, if any of the principal characters escape unscathed, however happy the ending might seem, and the sharply-observed social criticism.
Éric Ruf's staging consists of what might be the start of a beach area, with a hillock covered in thick tufts of dried grass. Part of Hervieu-Léger's way of marking the difference between the town and country characters is to have the former stumbling around the uneven ground, while the latter are more sure-footed. That said, this was a production with altogether too much running around; although dressed in period costume, the characters flung themselves up and down the dune, and back and forward across the stage area with an entirely modern sense of agitation. Also, although Marivaux does indeed write in quite a lot of laughter for his characters, the degree of shrieks and giggles, not to say roaring, was sometimes a little irritating.
It can be difficult to strike the right tone with Marivaux, that unique blend of artifice and honesty that is so hard to convey correctly, and not everything was just as it should be, though on the whole the result was very positive. La Rüe du Can's Hortense was girlishly earnest, and played well off Viala's somewhat cougar-ish Dorimène. D'Hermy and Montenez were excellent as the servants, cleverer than their masters (a very common trope in comedy of the period), though the production made them perhaps a trifle over-familiar in behaviour. Dominique Blanc and Didier Sandre brought some welcome gravitas to the stage as Rosimond's mother and Hortense's father, while the director, Hervieu-Léger, appeared as Dorante, and delivered his last line with perfectly judged bitterness. Corbery, for the most part, was very good, with a deliberately ridiculous giggle, and constantly caught off-balance by the manipulations of all and sundry around him. However, the drama-queen tendencies displayed throughout most of the evening played against him in the end, because his final declaration, and capitulation, didn't quite have the ring of truth to it, instead leaving an impression of yet more posturing - although that, in itself, is very Marivaux. You can never be quite certain if the happy end is really going to be a happy end.
[Next : 10th March]
Comédie Française
Directed by Clément Hervieu-Léger
Marivaux is to the French language what Alexander Pope is to English, a master of both form and style, an absolute precision of use allied to an exceptional grace of expression, and a sharp, often devastating wit lightly disguised with elegant frivolities. Pope's talent was largely exercised in poetry; Marivaux chose the theatre. Le petit-maître corrigé (rendered in English as "The Fop Reformed") was written for the Comédie Française in 1734, received two performances, and then was not seen in its home again (nor anywhere else much) for almost three hundred years, when the Comédie Française revived it in this production late in 2016.
The term "petit-maître" was once used to designate young gentlemen of the nobility proficient in arms, but also well-educated and well-connected, who could and did distinguish themselves both in combat and in society. By the early 18th Century, the military aspect of the character had faded away, leaving only a particular type of blasé, pretentious, idle, wealthy, upper-class youth, who considered it infra dig to show any genuine emotions, let alone something as bourgeois as love, and became figures of fun in literature. Aside from mocking the pretensions of such a character, Marivaux also has a go at the habitual conflict between capital and provinces, with Rosimond (Loïc Corbery), the titular fop, being a young gentleman of fashion come from Paris to make an advantageous marriage with Hortense (Claire de la Rüe du Can), a young provincial aristocrat.
Although the two are attracted to each other from the outset, Rosimond's condescension and extravagant airs and graces are very off-putting to Hortense, who allies with her servant, Marton (Adeline d'Hermy), and Rosimond's valet, Frontin (Christophe Montenez), to persuade Rosimond that his interests will be much better served if he drops his affected attitude and expresses himself honestly. Adding their pinch of salt to the mix are Dorimène (Florence Viala), Rosimond's most recent flirt, and Dorante (Clément Hervieu-Léger), his best friend, also from the capital. Le petit-maître corrigé displays many of Marivaux's most characteristic traits; the servants who are mirror-images of their masters, the mutual incomprehension of at least one, if not more, pairs of lovers, whose difficulties are exacerbated by an overdose of pride on one or both sides, the bitter-sweet nature of the comedy, for few, if any of the principal characters escape unscathed, however happy the ending might seem, and the sharply-observed social criticism.
Éric Ruf's staging consists of what might be the start of a beach area, with a hillock covered in thick tufts of dried grass. Part of Hervieu-Léger's way of marking the difference between the town and country characters is to have the former stumbling around the uneven ground, while the latter are more sure-footed. That said, this was a production with altogether too much running around; although dressed in period costume, the characters flung themselves up and down the dune, and back and forward across the stage area with an entirely modern sense of agitation. Also, although Marivaux does indeed write in quite a lot of laughter for his characters, the degree of shrieks and giggles, not to say roaring, was sometimes a little irritating.
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| Loïc Carbery and Adeline d'Hermy in Le petit-maître corrigé (© Comédie Française, 2016) |
[Next : 10th March]