Anecdotes and reflections compose a double portrait, like the confessions of an actor over the centuries. Pierre Louis-Calixte becomes the narrator of his own memory, remembering his first public performance, dressed as Harpagon, in front of laughing classmates, or his entry into the Troupe to play the role of Cléante in Tartuffe, while evoking images of Molière as a child at the theatre with his grandfather, and of Molière being subjected to his first cabals. The stage becomes an intensely vibrant space of memory, a place of exchange with absence. Amidst costumes, books and familiar objects, words seek out those “contact points” that form the basis of our existence. When Jean-Luc Lagarce, who staged Le Malade imaginaire as if to ward off his own fateful illness, enters the stage, our narrator remembers Louis in Juste la fin du monde, a role he performed at the Salle Richelieu in 2008 and which he has carried with him since. “I brought Louis into my life”, he says, recognising how the words of an author or a character work their way through an actor’s body, imbuing it with their presence long after the performance. The sociétaire fully appropriates the motto of the Comédie-Française, “Be together, be oneself” in this one-man show. And it is in this interweaving of his memories, both real and fictional, which inevitably stir up memories of our own, that this tribute to Molière, to the theatre and to life

OUVERTURE DES VENTES JANV 2023

THE THEATRICAL PRACTICE OF THE SOLO is relatively new to the Comédie-Française. Ever since the seventeenth century, the institution has defined itself first as a troupe of actors whose collective identity predominates over the expression of individualities. From as early as 1674 this quality was pointed out by Samuel Chappuzeau in his Théâtre Francois, when he compared theatre troupes to political “bodies” that functioned as so many small “Republics”. Commenting on actors, he wrote that “they admit no superiors, the name alone offends them; they all wish to be equal, and call each other comrades”. The motto of the Comédie-Française, Simul et Singulis (be together and be oneself), which appeared in 1682 along with the emblem of the buzzing hive, characterises this philosophy in which each contributes, though his or her own talent, to the collective work.

No solos... only soloists

While the practice of performing alone on stage is not considered a fitting pursuit, the “solo” form of the monologue is highly appreciated by the public, and sometimes staged to showcase the protagonist in all his or her splendour and in contrast with the rest of the troupe. This is an effect of the star system that clearly emerged in the nineteenth century.
Soloist practices most often developed outside of the theatre’s activity. Some actors embarked on personal tours that were sometimes scheduled without regard for the interests of the Comédie-Française –Talma or Rachel were capable of taking off while leaving their comrades in difficulty. They would travel with trunks full of costumes but recruit fill-in actors and find makeshift sets on the spot to perform the great scenes of their repertoire. The performance then resembled a recital of choice excerpts, selected to showcase the actor whose talent was all the more strongly emphasised given that he or she was performing alongside second-class actors if not to say amateurs.
The monologue per se developed at the end of the nineteenth century, thanks to the Coquelin brothers, but today remains an exception. The motto Simul et Singulis, perfectly sums up the indispensable paradox for any actor who is the member of a Troupe.

• Visual : Hive, engraving by Guillaumot fils

Devised and performed: by Pierre Louis-Calixte