A Miser by Molière in the time of degrowth and the circular economy

Clothes donated by the public to dress the actors, sets made from objects brought in, everything then being redistributed to charitable associations: this is the device of Molière’s play, The Miser, revisited by director Clément Poirée.

“Today we have a kilt, a buoy, a saucepan!”an actor enthuses into the microphone on the stage of the Théâtre de La Tempête in Paris, during a performance that an AFP journalist was able to attend. In a joyful hubbub, the spectators, previously invited to empty their cupboards, unpack bags and shopping bags in order to dress a troupe in scantily clad attire who marvel at each gift.

Also readLost Illusions in the Theater: So Cruel and So Current

Throughout the play, costume designers and make-up artists, discreetly posted on the stage between trays and rolling gantries, work to create, for Elise, Cléante, Mariane or Frosine, outfits, finery and wigs that are certainly disjointed, but in the form of a nod to the 17th century. “We have a skeleton of a show. And then we wait for people to feed it.”summarizes Clément Poirée, speaking of a “Avare radin”. “We started with very little because it was important for us to bring this question to life: today, what is giving, spending? Who is ready to give?”. It is “at the heart of Molière’s problem”with “paradigms (which) have changed a lot”. “Depending on what we have, the representation will take on a different color.”he jokes. A biscuit tin becomes Harpagon’s famous cassette, while a teapot, stuffed animals and trinkets are used for the final banquet. Surreptitiously, lighting technicians transform clothes into wall lights attached to projectors.

Exchanges and discovery

According to Clément Poirée, what Molière highlights – “the capture of property by a single person who does not want to give up anything, leave anything to his own children” – East “at the heart of what we are going through”in a society that has become “propertied society”. But some of the playwright’s lines take on another meaning with “(Current) thoughts on degrowth, reuse, measurement”. Every evening, until October 20 in Paris, donations are sorted, stored in a container before being redistributed to an association working in the field of solidarity reuse, the La Petite Rockette recycling center (12th arrondissement). Delphine Terlizzi, general coordinator, expects to receive “100 to 200 kilos of donations per performance”.

“Beyond the collection, what interests us are the exchanges between two worlds and the discovery of the theatre”especially for people in professional transition within her team, she says. The troupe, for its part, was trained in sorting and was loaned clothes for rehearsals by the association. In the cities of the tour planned afterwards (Avranches, Sartrouville, Vendôme, Maisons-Alfort, Nancy, Verdun…), the lists of local recycling centers were given to each theater. During the first performances, donations were surprising, such as a wheelbarrow or a François Bayrou mask. “People have been very generous”according to the director. Even this evening when no pants had been brought, “It was very funny, we had to invent with this absence”.