Michel Boujenah, at the Théâtre des Variétés this Saturday in the role of Harpagon, evokes on BFMTV the pantheonization of Molière, defended by Valérie Pécresse.
Michel Boujenah finds the boards. From this Saturday, he will be at the Théâtre des Variétés to play Harpagon, one of Molière’s most emblematic characters, in the play The Miser. These representations intervene in full political debate, whereas Valérie Pécresse has just signed a platform to ask for the panthéonisation of Molière. Despite his admiration for the playwright, Michel Boujenah is reserved, this Friday on BFMTV:
“He has the Comédie-Française, it’s his house. He is sacred all over the world. Do we need, in addition, to put him in the Pantheon? He did not like all that. He is so monumental, it is so much part of a heritage (…) Does it need a Pantheon? (…) Strangely, I may find that it is above the Pantheon . Or we put it on top!”
“For an actor, it’s the Himalayas”
“[Jouer Molière], it’s magnificent, surprising, moving, strong, funny, incredible”, he declares. “From the moment you are in his service, you should never fight against Molière: he is much too strong.”
The actor draws a parallel between the playwright, whose year 2022 marks the 400th anniversary of his birth, and the character he embodies: “Harpagon is an old gentleman who is sick, like Molière, who loves a woman much younger than him, like Molière, and in the play he discovers that his rival is his son, and he wants to kill him (…) We don’t come into the world miserly, we become one, it’s an illness. What’s exciting is that he still has something human about him. And if a character has something human about him, then I can save him.” And to add:
“It’s exciting to play a character like that, it’s part of the 20, 25 great roles… For an actor, it’s part of the Himalayas, it’s magnificent.”