The great mass of the theater delivered its verdict. The Molières crowned the Comédie-Française on Monday April 24 for a delirious production of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, as well as a moving play on Alzheimer’s disease created at the Off d’Avignon.
This 34th edition was marked by a speech by the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, present in the room. She defended her record against two artists who challenged her on stage regarding pension reform. Just before the evening, a few dozen demonstrators equipped with pots and pans had gathered in front of the Théâtre de Paris to protest against the reform, at the call of the CGT Spectacle.
The ceremony was also marked by French-Iranian playwright Aïda Asgharzadeh’s tribute to the “revolution in Iran”, enjoining the room to dance briefly in support of five women detained for having danced in “crop top” and whose video – which went viral on TikTok – was broadcast on a giant screen.
Aïda Asgharzadeh was awarded the prize for the best living French-speaking author for her play The Persian Dolls, which is freely inspired by the story of her parents, who were politically committed against the Shah before they fled the country with the establishment of the Islamic regime. “In France, we must support the Iranian revolution,” she said.
Among the other winners of the evening, the new version of the cult show Starmania won two molières (musical show, visual and sound creation), a consecration for Thomas Jolly, director who will be at the helm of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games from Paris. He received one of the prizes alongside the co-creator of the original show, Luc Plamondon, who was very moved.
Master of ceremonies, the director Alexis Michalik, who has won several Molières in his career, tried to give a more dynamic image to this evening, opening the ball with a song he performed himself, escorted by a group of comedians, in the style of the musical.
But the evening was above all that of the Comédie-Française on the public theater side, with four molières, including three for Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (best actor for Christian Hecq, best show and best staging). Behind Molière’s comedy stands “the golden couple” of the French scene: the member of the French Christian Hecq and the director and visual artist Valérie Lesort, who have already received several Molières in recent years thanks to popular shows for all audiences for their inventiveness (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Gulliver’s Voyage).
The venerable institution was also rewarded for Frozen, the Forgotten History, directed by Johanna Boyé. Still in the audience, Sara Giraudeau was crowned best actress against Isabelle Huppert, Isabelle Carré and Catherine Hiegel, for her performance in Le Syndrome de l’oiseau, inspired by the Natascha Kampusch affair.
On the private side, the piece Oublie-moi, a nugget created at the Off d’Avignon in 2022, with a modest budget, won three molières (best private show, best actor for Thierry Lopez and best actress for Marie-Julie Baup). This is a moving melodrama about a couple’s turmoil due to Alzheimer’s disease.
