On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Molière’s birth on January 15, 2022, Ivo van Hove reunited with the Troupe for their third collaboration, a production of Le Tartuffe ou l’Hypocrite, the original version in three acts, banned at its premiere in 1664 and reconstructed thanks to the work of ‘theatrical genetics’ overseen by Georges Forestier and Isabelle Grellet.
This energetic, if not to say frenzied version of the play, focuses on the crisis Tartuffe triggers when he enters the life of a rich family that is falling apart. It emphasises Tartuffe’s passionate relationship with the rich Orgon’s young second wife, the conflict between father and son and the opposition between Cléante’s progressive and libertine vision of the world and the conservative one espoused by Orgon and his mother. Ivo van Hove sets the play in a non-realistic space, an installation intended to serve as a framework for what he views as a social experiment, reminding us that Tartuffe is a beggar who “is attributed the role of saviour and man of piety by Orgon, who finds in him a confidant and a spiritual master” so much so that, in order to “seal this unique bond, he decides to make Tartuffe his sole heir. That’s when the bomb explodes.”

Version interdite en 3 actes et en vers restituée par Georges Forestier avec la complicité d’Isabelle Grellet

Spectacle créé Salle Richelieu le 15 janvier 2022

Production Comédie-Française
Coréalisation La Villette

Direction: Ivo Van Hove
Dramaturgy: Koen Tachelet
Scenography and lights: Jan Versweyveld
Costumes: An D'Huys
Original music: Alexandre Desplat
Musical collaboration: Solrey
Sound: Pierre Routin
Video: Renaud Rubiano
Assistant direction: Laurent Delvert
Assistant scenography: Jordan Vincent
Assistant lighting: François Thouret

and Comédie-Française Academy actors
Diego Andres
Chahna Grevoz
Hippolyte Orillard
Lila Pelissier
Alessandro Sanna
Sara Valeri