New episode of the Marivaux Saga at the Théâtre National de Nice: The Misunderstanding

Friday, 12 July 2024

Published on the website : Resonances Lyriques Org

Crédit photo TNN – Régis Rocca

7pm?! It's time for Contes d'Apéro 1!!! Free, no reservations required, in the heart of Nice's green belt, they come to pick us up every evening as we stroll through the summer. Laughter from the audience at the end of this prose comedy 2... This is the resounding success of a summer that dawns at the T.N.N. in a breeze of (La) Méprise, directed by Muriel Mayette-Holtz.

A cocktail of imagination, a wave of creativity, a hint of aestheticism, a touch of mischief, a cloud of lightness... What more could you want? It's all there!!!

The carefree nature of a fleeting evening? Let's not be mistaken! For Marivaux, born Pierre Carlet Chamblain in 1688 during the reign of Louis XIV, elected to the Académie Française in 1742 and the fifth most performed author at the Comédie-Française, covers many topics in a single act! That of shyness in the pursuit of love, with the embarrassing need to resort to an intermediary, whether human or canine, to express one's feelings and win union. That of living vicariously (Ergaste, a complex character who underestimates himself, becomes the master of a beautiful Dalmatian dog, reflecting what he wishes for himself... (tell me what dog you have, and I'll tell you who you are...?).That of the truth of love (does love at first sight fall under this category?). That of the role and power of appearances when clothes make the man (is declaring your sudden love for someone who resembles another person not a sign that it is not love but illusion?). The subject of jealousy, of the naivety of love that blinds; of the discordance between the sexes (unlike women, men desire first, discover later...) and their relationships of domination (women, cunning, those "female brains", lead men by the nose!). It also deals with the theme of anthropomorphism (the "good doggy" makes you go gaga!); of avarice (Frontin: "pay in pure gift, out of gallantry, be generous" / Arlequin: "I cannot, for I am ugly: I have never drunk at my own expense").

Crédit photo TNN – Régis Rocca

In a superbly zany production, punctuated by freeze frames, slow motion, exaggerated and romanticised gestures, and heightened emotions as if under a magnifying glass, Muriel Mayette-Holtz plays with the effects of silent cinema (Arlequin wanders across the stage like Charlie Chaplin) and clownish comedy that mimics emotions by amplifying them tenfold, in a joyful and playful mood. She frolics in the joy of childhood, awakening the spirit of cartoons and the romantic spirit of Peynet's lovers, brought back to life before our amazed eyes, like puppets.

Crédit photo TNN – Régis Rocca

With mischievous audacity, the director allows herself a few interludes from the original play (Nino Ferrer's "Z'avez pas vu Mirza"), but also this sudden interjection to the audience: "Can you make a choice?" asks Alexandre Diot-Tchéou, stepping out of his role as a valet to question the female members of the audience about their daily cohabitation with their male counterparts!

Crédit photo TNN – Régis Rocca

In a setting "illustrated" by a bench and a street lamp, the director of the Théâtre National de Nice gives a nod to the legendary scene from Singin' in the Rain 4. As a talented musical choreographer, to the poetic rhythm of Romain Pelsez's acoustic guitar, she orchestrates the walk of the flat cardboard dogs, weaving together the intertwined plots of the characters...

Crédit photo TNN – Régis Rocca

We applaud the actors' performance and their comical and fertile imagination, whose acting is perfectly playful!

Great news: this lively comedy will be hitting the roads of the Alps at the end of August 2024! Spread the word: The Misunderstandiiiiiiiiing!!!!!!

Nathalie AUDIN

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1 Les Contes d’Apéro: until 4 August 2024.

2 For this play exclusively, at the Théâtre des Franciscains.

3 French cartoonist, illustrator and engraver, born in 1908 in Paris and died in 1999 in Mougins, Alpes-Maritimes; famous for creating in 1942 the two characters of lovers that he drew on numerous media, including postage stamps.

4 Singin' in the Rain, an American musical film directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly in 1952.

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Staging: Muriel Mayette-Holtz

Composition musicale Cyril Giroux

Distribution :

Clarice : Benedicte Allard

Hortense, sœur de Clarice : Muriel Mayette-Holtz

Ergaste : Laurent Prévot

Lisette, suivante de Clarice : Élise Clary

Arlequin : valet d’Hortense : Gérard Holtz

Frontin :  valet d’Ergaste : Alexandre Diot-Tchéou

Guitariste : Romain Pelsez

Production : Théâtre National de Nice – CDN Nice Côte d’Azur

With the support of the City of Nice and the Endowment fund Passionnément Théâtre National de Nice

Crédit photo ©TNN