"Clitandre" rock and punk/"Clitandre" rock et punk
At the French Comedy, Muriel MAYETTE staged in a version "punk rock" a piece of CROW, "Clitandre. Excerpts from the play interspersed with interviews of Eric and Anne Kessler RUF interpreters and Muriel MAYETTE.
A la Comédie Française, Muriel MAYETTE met en scène dans une version "rock et punk" une pièce de CORNEILLE, "Clitandre". Extraits de la pièce en alternance avec les interviews d'Eric RUF et Anne KESSLER les interprètes et de Muriel MAYETTE.
13/12/1996
About the Adaptation
by Tim Mooney
Moliere did not hesitate to indulge his humor wherever he found it. And while his "The School for Wives" might have pointed the way towards the woman's movement, his "The Feminine Savants" (also known as "The Learned Ladies") would argue the opposite side. Here we find Philaminte and her female confidantes clearly overreaching the limits of their wit and expecting the world to cater to the whim of their wisdom. In the course of doing such, she endangers the future of her daughter, Henriette, by attempting to marry her off to a flattering, dull pedant whom she imagines to be a philosopher, leaving Henriette's true love, Clitandre, out in the cold. In the course of doing so, she usurps the then-customary right of the husband to determine the daughter's spouse, and it is clear that, on this occasion at least, Moliere has sided with the patriarchy. I chose to translate the title in a manner that is actually closer to Moliere's orignial, "La Femme Savants," as the sarcasm Moliere clearly intended in the title picks up some less-flattering echoes of another much-used phrase. In this scene, Belise, one of the feminine savants and Henriette's aunt, is approached by Clitandre, who wants to enlist her support in his petition for Henriette's hand. In it, Moliere explores one of his favorite themes: the power of ignorance when the ignorant is determined to remain in such a state.
The Feminine Savants (The Learned Ladies)
Act One, Scene Four
CLITANDRE, BELISE
CLITANDRE
Madame, allow a lover, if you would
To take this chance to try to win some good,
For I must tell you of my love, and how -
BELISE
Oh, sir! You mustn't tell me all this now!
If you have joined the ranks of all my swain,
Just tell me with your eyes, but don't explain!
Your eyes alone must be heart's emissary,
And coarse displays are hardly necessary,
Yes, love me, pine and burn; that is expected,
But don't allow me know how you're affected.
As long as you keep how you feel inside
Then I don't need to censor you or chide,
But if you speak of love, so free and wild,
Then from my sight you'll need to be exiled!
CLITANDRE
My passions, Ma'am, are naught to worry of
It's Henriette's the object of my love,
And I am asking, here, for your support,
In winning her as I should pay my court.
BELISE
Oh, that's a tricky dodge, and very witty!
I don't believe I've heard a turn so pretty!
He spoke a different name, while she well knew it, see;
That strikes me as the height of ingenuity!
CLITANDRE
Madame, I did not mean to speak with wit,
But rather, tell you true my sense of it,
By all the grace a man might hope to get,
I am in love and loved by Henriette.
It's Henriette that I do so desire,
And marriage with her to which I aspire,
And in establishment of this connection,
I only ask you favor my affection.
BELISE
I spy the art behind your elocution
And see your clever trick of substitution,
I'll speak with you, here, in this selfsame code,
And answer you within your witty mode,
Your "Henriette" does not desire a mate,
And those who sue for her are doomed to wait.
CLITANDRE
Enough, Madame! It seems you're fully bound
To turn each thing I say here upside-down!
BELISE
Oh, Sir! Have you not had enough of games?
You think your eyes can hide your heart's fond flames?
Suffice that I'm content, here, with the art
Which manages to shroud devoted heart.
If you are humble in this, and not proud,
Your kind of worship may well be allowed.
As long as you are pure in your petition,
You may approach my shrine with my permission.
CLITANDRE
But -
BELISE
No. I really ought to go. Yes. Good.
I've spoken more, here, really, than I should.
CLITANDRE
You're wrong -
BELISE
Don't talk like I'm a goddess, see,
When you go on, it hurts my modesty.
CLITANDRE
I'm damned if it is you that I adore!
BELISE
No, silent, please. I can't hear any more. (SHE exits.)
CLITANDRE
The devil take her fantasies and visions!
Has any truth received more stark revisions?
I didn't think such foolishness existed!
I'll seek support from someone not so twisted.
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About Timothy Mooney
Tim Mooney has worked in, with and around the theatre for almost thirty years, as an actor, director and playwright, and everything in-between. Tim received his bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University, and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He went on to internships with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and the Seattle Rep, where he was assistant director to John Dillon and Daniel Sullivan, respectively. Tim taught acting and stage movement for two years with Northern Illinois University, before creating “The Script Review,” a newsletter that reviewed some 700 plays in manuscript form over the course of seven years, distributed to Literary Managers and Directors all over the United States. As a director, Tim’s production of “Secret Obscenities” was one of five winners at the Bailiwick Directors’ Festival in Chicago. From there, Tim stepped in as Artistic Director of the Stage Two Theatre Company, where he produced nearly fifty plays in five years, most of them original works. When Stage Two turned to the classics, Tim adapted his own sparkling rhymed, iambic-pentameter versions of the plays of Moliere creating fifteen new Moliere plays in seven years. Stage Two produced “Tartuffe,” “The Miser,” “The Schemings of Scapin,” “The Misanthrope,” “The Doctor in Spite of Himself” and “Sganarelle,” and companies around the world picked up on these plays too, with productions all across the United States, as well as Canada and even India. U.S. venues included the Pasadena Shakespeare Festival, M.I.T., Wayne State University and Universities of Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Ohio and many more. Tim’s writing work brought him full circle, back in front of the footlights as a performer, playing the lead role in many of the works he had written. (In fact, all of the roles in which he now found himself cast were the parts that Moliere himself had originated!) This was to give Tim the impetus for a one-man show, “Moliere Than Thou” (Best Adapted Work, San Francisco Fringe Fest). The play serves as a quick introduction to some of Moliere’s greatest works and speeches, and has been seen all over the U.S. and Canada. It has given tens of thousands of students their first exposure to Moliere, and along the way Tim has taught thousands of students in his workshops, introducing the concepts further developed in his upcoming text, “Acting at the Speed of Life,” as well as his collection of Moliere Monologues. Most recently, Tim has further refined the art of the one-person show, creating a one-man Sci-Fi Thriller, “Criteria,” (Artistic Picks Finalist, Seattle Fringe Fest), as well as “Karaoke Knights” a “One Man Rock Opera.” Tim continues to write new versions of the plays of Moliere, novels, short stories, songs, children’s stories and screenplays.
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