à la maria: La Comédie-Française

Title: La Comédie-Française, aka Le Théâtre-Français or La maison de Molière
Location : Place Colette, Paris 1^er
Theatres : La Salle Richelieu, le Vieux-Colombier, le Studio-Théâtre
Motto : Simul et singulis

The Comédie-Française is the national theatre of France. It plays the "repertoire," that is to say all the French classics. The goal is to keep alive France's rich theatrical heritage and to bring it to the French people.

The main theatre, the Salle Richelieu, is an enormous, beautiful salle a l'italienne that has been located in the Palais-Royal since 1799. There is a lot of gold and red velvet involved ; according to a teacher who worked at the comedie-francaise, the chandelier is practically a historical landmark in and of itself.

I'm always in the nose-bleed section...

Sometimes called "La maison de Moliere," this theatre was where the great French playwright played before aristocrats and royalty. He died there, too, during a not so imaginary turn in "La Malade imaginaire." The green chair in which he died is displayed at la Comedie. The color green, considered a harbinger of bad luck, is now rarely used on French stages.

La Comedie-Francaise is made up of sociétaires and pensionaires, all of whom are technically government officials. It is run by an administrateur général who is elected by his or her peers ; the sociétaires also vote to determine who moves into the company, who stays, and who get kicked out. All the actors must come from the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, which takes about thirty pupils per year. They are the best of the best, and watching them is a class in acting unto itself :