The Trissotin / The Learned Ladies tour in March 2018 in China

Text: Molière Direction: Macha Makeïeff Assistant director: Gaëlle Hermant Set design: Macha Makeïeff Lighting: Jean Bellorini Props: Patrice Ynesta Lead roles: Vincent Winterhalter, Marie-Armelle Deguy, Maud Wyler, Arthur Igual, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing Dates: March 10, 2018: Guangzhou Opera House March 15, 2018: Shanghai Opera House March 23–25, 2018: Beijing People’s Art Theatre Production: La Criée Théâtre national de Marseille Premiered in June 2015 at the Festival des Nuits de Fourvière Running time: 2h15 Overview Three learned ladies—Philaminte, her eldest daughter Armande, and her sister-in-law Bélise—passionate about the sciences, intend to live according to the rules they draw from books, and go so far as to dismiss their cook when she makes mistakes in French. They often invite to their home two scholars, Vadius and Trissotin, who are more interested in the family’s financial situation than in their conversations with these three women. Philaminte hopes to marry her younger daughter, Henriette, to Trissotin, and obtains for this purpose the unenthusiastic consent of her husband, Chrysale. The situation is thus poised between a foolish mother, her two daughters, and her husband who, day after day, is losing his taste for life… An important work from Molière’s final years, The Learned Ladies portrays the absurdity of the situations that can arise during the emancipation of women. This play, very frequently brought to the stage because of its dramatic tension, its innovative character, and its irony, still inspires many reinterpretations and continues to provoke the audience’s laughter and reflection. Produced by La Criée Théâtre national de Marseille, this staging transposes Molière’s comedy into the 1970s. In an interview, the director, Macha Makeïeff, says: “I have a particular tenderness for the aging author, at the height of his art, who writes his second-to-last play—disillusioned, rather unhappy, no doubt very lonely. I sense him as a little paranoid and knowing everything, and too much, about the human heart. I was disturbed by the perversity he inscribes in the situations he proposes to each of the characters. Today, after two weeks of rehearsal, with the set built and the props gathered in the actors’ hands, I know that in this great comedy it is a regenerative laughter that makes itself heard, and that allows us to transcend the unbearable nature of certain situations, certain confessions.” Macha Makeïeff Born in 1953 in Marseille, Macha Makeïeff is a director, costume designer, and set designer. In 1978, she founded the troupe Deschiens & compagnie with Jérôme Deschamps, and she has been at the head of La Criée Théâtre national de Marseille since 2011. In her work she combines theater, opera, film, visual arts, and many other disciplines. Macha Makeïeff studied theater at the Conservatory of Dramatic Art of Marseille, then art history and literature at the Sorbonne. In 1979, she directed her first production, Un peu de musique pour monsieur, with the collaboration of Antoine Vitez. It was then that she met Jérôme Deschamps, with whom an artistic adventure of more than twenty years began. Her musical affinities led her to devote herself to directing operas, such as Offenbach’s Les Brigands at the Paris Opera (1991), Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Aix-en-Provence Festival of Lyric Art (2003), and Cavalli’s La Calisto at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (2010). From text to set design, by way of directing actors and designing costumes, Macha Makeïeff covers every aspect of theatrical creation, and has given it a characteristic style, cruel and funny, right down to her most recent works, such as Les Apaches in 2012 or Ali Baba in 2013.