La Thébaïde ou les frères ennemis

The Troupe is now getting to the very last piece, La Thébaïde (The Theban Brothers), directed by Clément Hervieu-Léger and recorded in front of an audience at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier. Our series is ending with Racine’s first play, written in 1664 when he was 23 and presented that same year at the Palais-Royal by Molière’s troupe. This tragedy revolves around the brotherly fight between Eteocles and Polynices for the throne of Thebes. Creon fuels their hatred for each other while their mother and sister, Jocasta and Antigone, struggle in vain to extinguish it. Creon and Antigone end up in a face-to-face duel about the ideal of love and justice both of them fight for until they die. In the preface to his play – which he admitted was one of his most violent ones, although at the service of the most tragic plot of Ancient Greece – Racine wrote: “Il n'y paraît presque pas un acteur qui ne meure à la fin (“There are almost no actors who stay alive until the end”).” This discarded piece was only shown seventeen times at the Comédie-Française between the 17th and the 18th century and was rehabilitated mostly due to it being presented in 1995 at the Salle Richelieu, with Yannis Kokkos as director. This newfound interest relies on the search for the roots of Racine’s universe, digging into the crafting of the alexandrine and the furies of passion.

ON THE RADIO — FRANCE CULTURE
Broadcast date to be announced