Le Misanthrope

LE MISANTHROPE WAS PREMIERED ON 4 JUNE 1666 by Molière’s troupe at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. It took up themes first developed in La Critique de l’École des femmes and L’Impromptu de Versailles, minor salon comedies that had been very well received by audiences in 1663. It was to be a genuine but short-lived success. Molière played the role of Alceste, Armande Béjart played Célimène.

In 1672 Molière was in his forties and passed the role of Alceste on to the very young Baron, who was nineteen at the time. La Grange then took it on and performed it until his death in 1692, alongside Armande Béjart. From 1741, Grandval took over the role, injecting it with a certain violence: he grabbed an armchair, flung it at the other end of the stage and sat with his back turned to Philinte. He played opposite Madame Préville, who was a great Célimène. It was Molé who really changed the public’s perception of Alceste, interpreting him in a much more contrasted way as someone inhabited by passion that went so far as to cause extreme violence. From 1783, he performed the play with Mademoiselle Contat, a student of Madame Préville, who, in turn, taught the role to Mademoiselle Mars. Insolent and cruel as Célimène, she added the device of the fan through her own invention, something her student copied. In 1837, a new production was given in Versailles for the inauguration of the museum, with magnificent seventeenth-century costumes designed by Paul Lormier and paid for by Louis-Philippe. Until then, Molière’s comedies had been performed in period costume. Mademoiselle Mars participated in this production. Just like Mademoiselle Contat, her Parisian salon and wit were sought by everyone and she played Célimène with a measured grace and spirit.

In 1878, the administrator Émile Perrin proposed a new cast. Delaunay, typically cast as the hero of Musset plays, made for a charming Alceste opposite Sophie Croizette. Worms perpetuated this new, seductive Alceste while adding a subtle dose of melancholy. Cécile Sorel was cast as Célimène, a choice that met little argument so brightly did she shine in the role. Whereas Alceste’s comic dimension was emphasised on other stages (Coquelin, Lucien Guitry), Albert-Lambert composed a measured Alceste opposite Mary Marquet.
In 1936, the first modern production of Le Misanthrope was proposed by Jacques Copeau with Marie Bell as Célimène and Aimé Clariond as Alceste. From that date on, the logic of casting according to type was somewhat abandoned and Le Misanthrope became all the more a “troupe play” in that the actors adopted different roles in the cast according to their ages and the stagings. It was regularly restaged, by Pierre Dux in 1947, Jacques Charon in 1963, Jean-Luc Boutté and Catherine Hiegel in 1975, Pierre Dux in 1977, Jean-Pierre Vincent in 1984, Simon Eine in 1989, Jean-Pierre Miquel at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in 2000, and Lukas Hemleb in 2007.
By partly reusing the cast of La Critique de l’École des femmes, which he directed in 2011, Clément Hervieu-Léger continues the interrupted dialogue with the short play and perpetuates the acting practices of Molière’s troupe.