Dom Juan
by Molière
directed by Macha Makeïeff
duration 2h30
Odéon 6e
Dom Juan
© Macha Makeïeff
with Joaquim Fossi, Xavier Gallais, Khadija Kouyaté, Xaverine Lefebvre, Jeanne-Marie Lévy, Anthony Moudir, Irina Solano, Pascal Ternisien, Vincent Winterhalter
Subversive hero or vile predator? Staging Dom Juan today necessarily implies taking stock of things that have shifted, in the last years, for great seducers… Macha Makeïeff moves the play from the 17th century, in which religion was a central issue, to the following century, that of Laclos and Sade. This move allows her to address head on the question of erotic libertinism on three levels. That of the 18th century: her Don Juan is obsessed by transgression and pleasure, but also hunted down by a society whose foundations he wants to undermine. That of the not-so-distant 20th century, in which such a hero could crystallize a fascination for his "cursed dimension." And that of the 21st century: in the show, women are on the offensive to denounce the predator’s manipulations. But if the director chose Molière’s play to question the cruelty of domination, the mortal game of subjection, the quest for pleasure up to Evil and the "masculine mystery," it is only to subject all these shades of darkness to the disintegrating power of laughter.
