Le Misanthrope: Molière's play at Théâtre du Ranelagh

Le Misanthrope, adapted and directed by Thomas Le Douarec, opens at the Théâtre du Ranelagh on October 19, 2024. Created for the Festival Off d'Avignon, this adaptation of Molière' s play was acclaimed by the critics.

Le Misanthrope, first performed in 1666, tells the story of Alceste, an honest man deeply disillusioned by the hypocrisy of society. Alceste despises the pretense and flattery of those around him, but is paradoxically in love with Célimène, a flirtatious, manipulative young woman who embodies everything he detests. Throughout the play, Alceste struggles between his rigid principles and his feelings for Célimène, exposing human contradictions and the shortcomings of society at the time. Thomas Le Douarec offers a 21st-century version at the Théâtre du Ranelagh.

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Actor and directorThomas Le Douarec is no stranger to literary adaptation. In 2019, he adapted Russian writer Dostoyevsky 's The Idiot and in 2023,Oscar Wilde 's The Portrait of Dorian Gray, which was recently on at the Théâtre du Ranelagh. In 2022, he embarked on the daunting task of reinventing Molière's Le Misanthrope, which was performed in Paris at the Théâtre de l'Épée de Bois in 2024, before going on to the Festival Off d'Avignon.

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Molière, whose real name was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, was one of the most emblematic playwrights of the 17th century. When he wrote Le Misanthrope in 1666, he was at the height of his career, but also facing personal and social tensions. Through Alceste, the main character, Molière expresses a profound critique of the hypocritical mores of the royal court. Le Misanthrope is considered one of his most accomplished plays, combining comedy and philosophical reflection, with a darker tone than his other works, and Thomas Le Douarec takes up the challenge ofmodern adaptation, in the Théâtre du Ranelagh.