Le Grand Meaulnes: Alain-Fournier's novel adapted for the Mois Molière festival in Versailles

A memory from adolescence can sometimes become an impossible quest. Le Grand Meaulnes, a stage adaptation of the novel by Alain-Fournier, is being staged in the Cour de l’Hôtel des Affaires étrangères in Versailles, as part of the Mois Molière. The production, directed and performed by Emmanuel Besnault for the Compagnie L’Éternel Été, takes place on Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. This one-man show follows the path of Augustin Meaulnes, a young man haunted by the memory of a strange fête where love, freedom and the passage to adulthood intertwine.

Published in 1913, Le Grand Meaulnes remains the sole novel by Alain-Fournier, who died at 27 at the outset of the First World War. The narrative follows Augustin Meaulnes, a teenager drawn to a mysterious estate and to the figure of Yvonne de Galais, met at a party that becomes for him an ideal to recover. The announced adaptation keeps the novel’s chronology and aims to foreground the character’s inner struggle, between a fascination with a lost moment and the gradual entry into a more adult world.

• To be read
• Molière Month in Versailles 2026, the lineup of bargain-priced and free shows
• Shows and plays to see in Paris right now
• What to see this week in Paris? Plays and shows not to be missed

On stage, Emmanuel Besnault carries this novelistic material solo, aiming to make legible the inner journey of a hero who seeks less a place than a vanished state. The project, presented as a new creation, rests on a novel often linked to childhood, waiting, and memory. Moving from book to stage brings this story into a more direct form, centered on the voice, the narrative, and the presence of the performer.

In the Cour de l’Hôtel des Affaires étrangères, Le Grand Meaulnes finds a heritage-rich setting that mirrors the novel’s themes of memory and disappearance. This adaptation brings back a quintessentially French work without reducing it to a mere nostalgic evocation. More importantly, it keeps alive the thread that runs through Alain‑Fournier’s text: who are we when we keep chasing a moment that will never return?

This page may contain AI-assisted elements, more information here.