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The goal is to provide sensitive outlooks; to draw links between different pieces, artists, and issues everyone has an interest in, instead of saddling students with yet another class or theoretical piece of knowledge. Free, diverse and thorough content is available in several forms: talks or performances recorded in one our theatres, and programmes designed to be streamed (Théâtre à la table). Claudel’s take “Forget understanding; in fact, simply forget” could very well be this programme’s motto, the aim being to take a candid, diagonal look on what you’re sure of and to be open to new things.

Stream on comedie-francaise.fr or on YouTube.

L’Écume des jours (Froth on the Daydream) is part of the baccalauréat professionnel curriculum; the Comédie-Française has crafted two events revolving around this seminal, multifaceted author and musician.

Vieux-Co Monday

with Nicole Bertolt, the literary executor for Vian’s work,
sociétaires Serge Bagdassarian and Florence Viala,
and musician Benoît Urbain

Directed by sociétaire Serge Bagdassarian, this Vieux-Co Monday explores Boris Vian’s polymorphic personality as an author, jazz musician, songwriter, scientist, and member of the College of Pataphysics, the “science of imaginary and useless solutions” which “takes everything seriously, except what’s serious”. More particularly, the guests will tackle Vian’s 1947 Froth on the Daydream, which became the flagship book of young people in the 60s and 70s.

Recorded on September 22 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier
ONLINE THU OCT 16 AT 8:30 P.M.

directed by Serge Bagdassarian
filmed by Stéphane Metge
a Comédie-Française – La Belle Télé co-production
with the participation of France Télévisions

Shot in 2016, La Comédie-Française chante Boris Vian gathers seven actor-singers from the Troupe jamming to a dozen of Vian’s 600 songs, combining jazz, poetry, puns, and lively rhythms.

ONLINE THU NOV 13 AT 8:30 P.M.
Please note this will be broadcast once, with no available replay

2026 marks the 400th anniversary of major French writer Madame de Sévigné, whose letters to her daughter, Madame de Grignan, paint a portrait of 17th-century society between the lines.

Théâtre à la table

Madame de Sévigné by Dominique Blanc
filmed by Clément Gaubert

Sociétaire Dominique Blanc embodies Madame de Sévigné for a reading of selected letters. Twenty-five-years’ worth of her unfettered, impetuous musings, painting the portrait of an attentive mother and witness of her own time.

ONLINE THU DEC 18 AT 8:30 P.M.

Vieux-Co Monday

with Frédéric Magret, founder of the International Women's Writing Festival,
General Administrator of the Comédie-Française Clément Hervieu-Léger,
and sociétaire Dominique Blanc

Just like Madame de Sévigné, women from the 17th century to our current times have produced wonders in literature, but only a handful of them became notable. This event revolving around them is an overview of how often women authors are featured on theatre stages.

Recorded on June 1 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier
ONLINE THU JUNE 18 AT 8:30 P.M.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of social and cultural education in agricultural schools, and the convention between the Comédie-Française and the Ministry of Agriculture, two events were crafted around young people in the rural world.

Vieux-Co Monday

with sociologist Betrand Hervieu,
Nouveau Théâtre Populaire member Morgane Nairaud,
and pensionnaire Adrien Simion

This Vieux-Co Monday is about celebrating the connection between culture and agriculture and painting the portrait of young people striving to work with living things in all their forms.

Recorded on December 8 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier
ONLINE THU MARCH 19 AT 8:30 P.M.

Théâtre à la table
Élisée Reclus

directed by Christian Gonon
filmed by Clément Gaubert

Sociétaire Christian Gonon directed this Théâtre à la table gathering students from an agricultural school and recorded inside the school. This shared experience revolves around Élisée Reclus, an anarchist geographer and ecology pioneer.

ONLINE THU APRIL 16 AT 8:30 P.M.

As time seems to go by faster and faster, magnified by the digital world, take a break at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier to share reflexions on how information and fame were hatched throughout the years.

C’est Lundi au Vieux-Co

with Michel Guerrin, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Le Monde,
journalist and theatre critic Brigitte Salino,
and pensionnaire Thierry Godard

Caught up that we are in a forest of frantic information where not losing our heads is a daily challenge, can theatre be a refuge, both as a shared experience and a place where eternal questions, tackled in great pieces of playwriting history, can be examined?

Recorded on January 26 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier
ONLINE THU FEB 19 AT 8:30 P.M.

Vieux-Co Monday

with Collège de France professor Antoine Lilti,
Sorbonne professor Florence Naugrette,
France Inter journalist Mathilde Serrell,
and pensionnaire Birane Ba

The 150th anniversary of the Troupe’s 195th sociétaire, Talma, considered to be one of the first-ever stars in the modern sense of the word, is a perfect opportunity to explore the innerworkings of fame from the 18th century to our current time.

Recorded on February 16 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier

ONLINE THU MAY 21 AT 8:30 P.M.

Vieux-Co Monday

with director and translator of Jon Fosse’s work Gabriel Dufay,
and sociétaires Didier Sandre and Marina Hands

During his Nobel Prize in Literature speech in 2023, Jon Fosse talked about the day his high-school self had to face his fears: “The teacher asked me to read aloud. And out of nowhere, I was overcome by a sudden fear that overpowered me. It was like I disappeared into the fear and it was all I was. I stood up and ran out of the classroom.”As reading aloud is becoming a priority in French education, discovering Jon Fosse’s silent language is an incomparable experience.

Recorded on October 6 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier
ONLINE OCT

Broadcast of Molière’s Scapin the Schemer, directed by Denis Podalydès
Followed by the Troupe’s tribute to Molière

A special online event to celebrate Molière’s anniversary at the Salle Richelieu; this year, enjoy the production of Molière’s Scapin the Schemer, directed by Denis Podalydès, also performed on stage, as well as a live broadcast of the Troupe’s tribute to its patron figure.

ONLINE THU JAN 15 AT 8:30 P.M.

This 1730 memoir of a novel written by Abbé Prévost is part of the curriculum for general and technological schools. The book sparked outrage when it was published and was banned in 1773 before becoming one of the greatest love stories in French literature. Its main character was described by Montesquieu as “a hero with a harlot of a heroine”. Their story is read aloud by Christophe Montenez.

ONLINE NOV

Monday at 8 a.m.
APPLE PODCAST, SPOTIFY, DEEZER SEPT

The Théâtre à la table benefit from the generous support of Aline Foriel-Destezet, great patron of the arts