Harlequin’s Lesson of Love

By

Marivaux

Direction

Thomas Jolly

Performed by

Romain Brosseau, Rémi Dessenoix, Charlotte Ravinet, Clémence Solignac, Romain Tamisier, Ophélie Trichard

Played repeatedly since it was created in 2007, Thomas Jolly’s successful first show now comes to Les Célestins. This is a sparkling version of Marivaux’s play in which the juvenile impulses of love shine through.

Written following Marivaux’s 1720 encounter with actors from the Comédie-Italienne, Harlequin’s Lesson of Love depicts the ardour of youth, together with its insolence, splendid stupidity, clumsiness and enchantments, to tell a tyrannical love story. It is the tale of a fairy who kidnaps her heart’s desire, the young Harlequin,  because he is in love with another woman, a young shepherdess who has brought out the power and innocence of the very first stirrings of love.
A few light bulbs, strings of fairy lights, streamers and bunches of balloons create the fairy-tale setting for this passionate joust that comes out in favour of naive and sincere relationships.
With a demanding score, this one-act play by Marivaux makes each spoken line a brief and incisive weapon. There are no long speeches, but rather a clear-sighted concentrate of ferocity that brings to light an intelligent and jubilant form of theatre.
The show is played for and with the audience in its entirety.