Le Loup ・ Comédie-Française

Delphine and Marinette, naive and delightful, live confined within the prohibitions imposed by parents who are much more terrifying than the wolf.

“These tales were written for children aged four to seventy-five. It goes without saying that in making this statement, my intention is not to discourage readers who fancy themselves as intellectuals. On the contrary, everyone is invited”, wrote Marcel Aymé in his preface to Les Contes du chat perché (The Wonderful Farm) from which The Wolf is taken.
Directed in 2009 by Véronique Vella, a sociétaire in the Troupe, the production built around a clear narrative performed by five actors like a shared partition. This wolf has human qualities, he knows the world and has something to tell Delphine and Marinette. These children, in equal parts naive and delightful, live confined within the prohibitions imposed by parents who are much more terrifying than any wild animal. The wolf is capable of all kinds of wonder and brings a breath of fresh air into the girls’ house, a closed world where everything creaks. As long as they treat him as a playmate, he forgets about his stomach. But things go wrong when they decide to play wolf, his nature as the eternally hungry predator awakens, connecting the story to the world of tales and legends, to those wolves who gobble up Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs or the lamb in the fable by La Fontaine.
“That’s the moral of the story I love most of all”, says Véronique Vella, “appeal to beings’ culture and you will be dealing with cultured beings, appeal to their nature and you will be dealing with their instincts.”

Creative team

Mise en scène : Véronique Vella
Scénographie : Éric Ruf
Costumes : Virginie Merlin
Lumières : Arnaud Jung
Réalisation sonore : Jean-Luc Ristord
Musiques originales : Vincent Leterme
Couplets additionnels : Lucette-Marie Sagnières
Collaboration artistique à la mise en scène : Raphaëlle Saudinos
Collaboration magique : Félicien Juttner