Theatre: from Dom Juan to pension reform

Elisabeth Borne and Emmanuel Macron must have had whistling ears on Wednesday evening. At the time of the encores for Dom Juan or the stone feast, nearly 780 spectators rose to applaud Molière's play spectacularly staged by David Bobée

But also the political message inscribed in letters of light in favor of the “project to withdraw pension reforms”. “It is certainly a non-violent, but radical questioning of a power that has become deaf to protest”, could we read on the panel which surmounted the stage. The director believes that it is necessary to act "when we have exhausted the expression of disagreement by traditional political means which respect the rules of dialogue."

“We know about the militancy of David Bobée, he has already communicated on social networks, we do not want to comment on this subject”, indicated this morning a spokesperson for the Maison des arts de Créteil (Island -of France).

It was the first date of his show given at the MAC. There is a second on Thursday evening, before the tour planned throughout France. For his first creation as director of the Théâtre du Nord in Lille, David Bobée wanted to offer a modern version of the play. He succeeds with strong staging effects, video images, lights, songs and music. "Should we unbolt the statues whose stories encumber us?" asks the director in the MeToo era. He answers here in the affirmative without economy of means and effects served by a troupe from diverse backgrounds.

Spectators enter the room while Orlande Zola plays a guitar tune. Then the actors - nine in total - appear on the set. In particular, the public is entitled to quotes from Aristotle. David Bobée intends to reflect on the dramatic art, but the demonstration takes over. The curtain opens on a monumental statue, the trunk of a reclining Greek colossus like the symbol of a bygone past.

Here, Dom Juan, Radouan Leflahi - already in David Bobée's Peer Gynt, has shaved temples and hair stuck to his head. He wears a white tank top that flatters his muscular shoulders and tight black pants matched with leather ankle boots. A leather belt allows him to carry a sword. Between Terminator and Bruce Lee. The unscrupulous seducer is a criminal without faith or law, egocentric and manipulative, a narcissistic, cynical pervert, all sound and fury, angry. Radouan Leflahi delivers a breathtaking performance.

In Sganarelle, the very flexible Congolese actor Shade Hardy Garvey Moungondo is not to be outdone. He even brings a little levity with his facial expressions addressed to the public. He can't get over seeing his master go so far in infamy. Betray everyone around him and marry those he seduces, starting with Elvire (Nadège Cathelineau).

David Bobée was daring in his choices to revisit the play created by Molière in 1665. The role of Dom Juan's father has disappeared, he is replaced by the mother: Catherine Dewitt rightly dishonored and desperate to see her son repentance. Charlotte and Pierrot, the couple of peasants in love is interpreted by two actors of Asian origin, Xiao Yi Liu and Jin Xuan Mao, also dancers, and speaks in Mandarin and not in patois.

Too bad the director forgot to use a pair of scissors. We feel the two and forty hours of the performance pass. Especially since she had started late.