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The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theatres in France. But. It is the only state theatre to have its own troupe of actors.
The company's primary venue is the Salle Richelieu. The theatre is part of the Palais-Royal complex and located at 2 rue de Richelieu on the Place André-Malraux in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.
The theatre has also been known as the Théâtre de la République and La Maison de Molière (English: House of Molière). It inherited the latter name from the troupe of the best-known playwright associated with the Comédie-Française, Molière. He was considered the patron of French actors. He died seven years before “La Maison de Molière” was rechristened the “Comédie-Française,” and the company continued to be known popularly by the former name even after the official change of name.
The Comédie-Française was founded by a decree of Louis XIV on 8 August 1680 to merge the only two Parisian acting troupes of the time, the troupe of the Guénégaud Theatre and that of the Hôtel de Bourgogne. On the death of Molière in 1673, the troupe at the Guénégaud had been formed by a merger of the Théâtre du Marais and the Troupe de Molière. Thus the Comédie-Française may be said to have an unbroken tradition reaching back to the days of Molière and to have had theatre connections for more than a century previous to the death of the great dramatist in 1673.
In 1680, the repertoire consisted of the collection of theatrical works by Molière and Jean Racine, along with a few works by Pierre Corneille, Paul Scarron and Jean Rotrou. Two years after the amalgamation of the dramatic companies, they received a royal grant of £12,000 per year; and seven years later they took as their name their present designation of “players of the Comédie Française.”
On 3 September 1793, during the French Revolution, the Théâtre de la Nation was closed by order of the Committee of Public Safety for putting on the allegedly seditious play Pamela, and the actors were imprisoned though gradually released later.
On 31 May 1799, the new government made the salle Richelieu available and allowed the actors to reconstitute the troupe. The Comédie-Française today has a repertoire of 3,000 works and three theatres in Paris (salle Richelieu, next to the Palais Royal; théâtre du Vieux-Colombier; Studio-Théâtre).
The membership of the theatrical troupe is divided into “sociétaires” and “pensionnaires.” The former are regular members of the organisation and as such receive a pension after 20 years of service, while the latter are paid actors who may, after a certain length of service, become “sociétaires.” The names of nearly all the great actors and dramatists of France have, at some time in their career, been associated with that of the Comédie-Française.
The chief administrator of the Comédie-Française has been given the title administrateur général since Simonis' term of 1850. Before that, a variety of titles were given. The current chief administrator is Muriel Mayette.
Here is what Muriel Mayette wrote about Comédie-Française, 2013 season.
'The coming season is as much conviction as it is a commitment. It is the will to reach out to the greatest number and to do so at the top of our art, not diluting in any way the intellectual battle, or the dimension of pleasure and entertainment. This means allowing the audience to build trust with titles it knows but has not necessarily seen, or at least not in this light, and arousing its desire to return for rare or unseen productions.
This year, we will, therefore, let our imaginations tackle all kinds of violence. Disguises of heroism and high treason as told by Shakespeare (Troilus and Cressida); the refusal to renounce ideas to the point of self-sacrifice with Anouilh’s Antigone, a play which triggered battle in the past; Don Juan by Molière, a major play today but whose line “I believe that two and two make four” caused it to be banned for nearly two centuries; Other People’s Heads by Marcel Aymé, on the arbitrary nature of justice and the death penalty. An arbitrariness against which Voltaire protested in his time, Voltaire, whose Candide we will also be programming. In addition, for the first time, a text written in Arabic will be entering the repertoire, Ritual for a Metamorphosis by the Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous, a militant tale of great poetic force, combining the intimate desires of individuals and the suppressed anxieties of a society in crisis. There will also be two comedies, La Place Royale by Corneille, a meditation on love, freedom and their foibles, and An Italian Straw Hat by Eugène Labiche, a bucolic epic that borders on the absurd and the burlesque. We will have the battle of heart and body with Phèdre. Finally, availing of the revival of The School for Wives, we shall question, with a great text and words that make sense, the position and role of women.'
THE STAFF
Mme Muriel Mayette, General administrator
Mr Jérôme Lamy, Managing director
Mr Patrick Belaubre, Secretary-general
Mr Didier Monfajon, Technical director
Mlle Aliette Martin, Deputy director for programming
Mr Olivier Giel, General manager external, audiovisual productions
Mr Renato Bianchi, Wardrobe services manager
Mme Sophie Bourgeois, Building and equipment manager
Mme Nathalie Bruyneel, Director of human resources
Mme Chantal Blanchon, Accountant
Mme Claire Gannet, Director of patronage and corporate relations
Mme Agathe Sanjuan, Curator-archivist
Mr Laurent Muhleisen, Literary advisor
Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier
Mme Anne Pollock, Technical and administrative director
Mr Paolo Rizzotti, Production manager
Studio-Théâtre
Mme Régine Grall-Sparfel, Administrator
Mr Éric Dumas, Technical director
The Company
The sociétaires honoraires
Gisèle Casadesus, Micheline Boudet, Jean Piat, Robert Hirsch, Ludmila Mikaël, Michel Aumont, Geneviève Casile, Jacques Sereys, Yves Gasc, François Beaulieu, Roland Bertin, Claire Vernet, Nicolas Silberg, Simon Eine, Alain Pralon, Catherine Salviat, Catherine Ferran, Catherine Samie, Catherine Hiegel, Pierre Vial.
The sociétaires
Dominique Constanza, Gérard Giroudon, Claude Mathieu,Martine Chevallier,Véronique Vella,Catherine Sauval,Michel Favory,Thierry Hancisse,Anne Kessler,Andrzej Seweryn,Cécile Brune,Sylvia Bergé,Jean-Baptiste Malartre,Éric Ruf,Éric Génovèse,Bruno Raffaelli,Christian Blanc Alain Lenglet, Florence Viala, Coraly Zahonero,Denis Podalydès,Alexandre Pavloff,Françoise Gillard,Céline Samie,Clotilde de Bayser,Jérôme Pouly,Laurent Stocker Guillaume Gallienne, Laurent Natrella,Michel Vuillermoz,Elsa Lepoivre,Christian Gonon,Julie Sicard,Loïc Corbery,Léonie Simaga,Serge Bagdassarian,Hervé Pierre.
The pensionnaires
Nicolas Lormeau,Bakary Sangaré,Clément Hervieu-Léger,Pierre Louis-Calixte,Marie-Sophie Ferdane,Benjamin Jungers,Stéphane Varupenne,Gilles David,Christian Hecq,Suliane Brahim,Georgia Scalliet,Nâzim Boudjenah, Félicien Juttner, Pierre Niney,Jérémy Lopez,Adeline d'Hermy,Danièle Lebrun,Jennifer Decker,Elliot Jenicot,Laurent Lafitte, Marion Malenfant,Samuel Labarthe, Louis Arene,Benjamin Lavernhe,Pierre Hancisse,Sébastien Pouderoux.
informations@comedie-francaise.org
http://www.comedie-francaise.fr/index.php
Here are few videos reflect some of their work.