But you have to be willing and able to meet him or her... In this black comedy, Molière forces Sosie and Amphitryon to meet their look-alikes and they will be dispossessed of their own roles by force of circumstance. Amphitryon is a fascinating play with a double, even triple depth to it. An unprecedented meta-structure. Mercure becomes the look-alike of Sosie. But Mercure is himself the double of Jupiter. Jupiter is the double of Amphitryon, who himself becomes the double of Sosie. Amphitryon and Sosie are then equal in the face of the imposture of the gods.

Here is a play written and performed by an actor-director (and not just any actor-director) for actors. The roles are cast. Everyone has theirs. The actors, flattered to be cast in this comedy (one in the main role of Sosie, the other in the title role of Amphitryon) are shot down in mid-flight by two other actors who also wanted to play these roles. A combat of near martial proportions breaks out! Mercury smashes Sosie. Jupiter grazes Amphitryon. And the other actors... play their roles without really understanding what is going on in this cast where the cards are constantly being reshuffled.

An actor who does not act does not exist, but when he is deprived of the role that is his, it is even worse, and the suffering endured doubles. Unlike lies, injustice is durably troubling for the actor; it triggers an irreparable doubt that will always prevent him from re-establishing the truth.”

Jérôme Pouly

Avec le soutien de la Fondation pour la Comédie-Française et le mécénat de François Jerphagnon 

Très régulièrement donné de 1680 jusqu’au début du XIXe siècle, à raison de quelques représentations par an, les reprises s’espacent par la suite et sont épisodiques à partir du début du XXe siècle. Le sujet mythologique séduit moins. Les premiers metteurs en scène de la pièce s’évertuent d’ailleurs à utiliser les traditionnels costumes à la romaine inspirés de l’Antiquité. C’est le cas de la mise en scène de Jean Meyer (1957) jouée jusqu’à la fin des années 1970.

Philippe Adrien en 1983, costume les personnages dans des habits du temps de Molière et Anatoli Vassiliev en 2002, leur fait revêtir des kimonos inspirés du Japon. La dernière mise en scène a été jouée au Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier en 2012 (Jacques Vincey).

Artistic direction: Jérôme Pouly
Director: Clément Gaubert