Le Cid ・ Comédie-Française

While a seminal piece of the classical French repertoire, "Le Cid" aroused a fight which went down in history: following its 1637 premiere, Corneille was called out for transgressing the classical unities of time, place, and action.

The several twists that ended up making him famous throughout the centuries are initiated by a slap, fuelled by Don Gomès’ jealousy towards elderly Don Diègue. The former is Chimène’s father, the latter is Rodrigue’s; and although the pair is engaged, Rodrigue is tasked with duelling – and ends up killing – the father of his future wife. Chimène asks the King for reparations while suppressing her feelings, as L’Infante tries to manage her own love for Rodrigue, whom she can’t pursue due to her social class.
As exampled with Cyrano de Bergerac in 2006, or his last Richelieu productions of Lucrezia Borgia and Scapin the Schemer, Denis Podalydès enjoys directing the Troupe in repertoire pieces, making for aesthetically and dramatically compelling productions. This season, he selected Corneille’s Le Cid, with a particular focus on the value of characters faced with honour code aftermaths, in the context of 11th-century Spain. “Corneille’s characters, whether they’re men or women, are in love, and their love clashes against the honour code. They are torn, divided, devastated even, by deep inner conflicts. Yet they display a form of awareness, setting them apart from the rest of humankind: their existential crises are the source of so much pain that they are transformed by them; they become ablaze, enlightened and plunged into darkness at the same time, observing their true form under the watchful eye of the group, of the audience.”

NEW PRODUCTION

BOOKING OPENS IN LATE SEPTEMBER 25