You’ve been travelling alongside Molière since 1998…
Damiaan De Schrijver
In The Misanthrope, Molière exposes usurers, priests, and snobs under the guise of farce. He denounces lies and deception, the duplicity of moralists. We were captivated by his ruthless writing and corrosive humour. This sparked our desire to study him in depth, and then to create Poquelin in 2003, shortly after the second Gulf War in Iraq. We were surrounded by violence and wondering how to respond to it. Should we engage politically, create a play that explicitly addressed the war? We chose the opposite: to tell jokes and stage farces… We chose entertainment, as Molière did with the “troupe de Monsieur.” Thirteen years later, in 2017, we created Poquelin II. We felt the need for another dose of Molière.
On a dramaturgical level, how do you weave a performance out of these texts?
D.D.S. Each member of the troupe read all the plays and wrote summaries, like a genuine reading committee. Everyone then had to defend the play they wanted to perform. At first, we thought we would mix everything together and rewrite it, but that didn’t work. It was too intellectual. For Poquelin, we eventually kept The Imaginary Invalid, Sganarelle, or The Imaginary Cuckold, and The Doctor in Spite of Himself, to which we added The Egotists, an assemblage of five plays including The Learned Ladies and The Affected Young Ladies… a kind of posthumous play by the great dramatist.
J.D.K. We wanted to present burlesque and brutal farces, biting comedies, and above all avoid delivering moralising lessons. We therefore eliminated The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, and Georges Dandin. For Poquelin II, we chose The Bourgeois Gentleman and The Miser: two brilliant and hilarious plays, two pamphlets on ridicule and greed. With 1, 2, 3 Poquelin, we revisit the first two episodes of the series. We’re rereading, cutting, adding…
D.D.S We considered adding The Forced Marriage. What’s clear is our desire to preserve the same ingredients: simplicity and radicality. The actors will channel Molière’s genius, along with his critical ideas on society and his way of questioning morality, paternalism, stupidity, infidelity, violence, egocentrism…
You perform these texts at breakneck speed, in a setup close to trestle theatre…
J.D.K. We perform in a three-sided configuration, in the spirit of 17th-century travelling troupes. We are surrounded by spectators at all times. We seek contact with them, going down and back up onto the stage via staircases that are literally at their feet. We want to be together and to share everything intensely with the audience. To live four hours of performance at lightning speed…
D.D.S. And without a fourth wall, as in Molière’s time. Our acting is simple and direct, almost rudimentary, like children playing in an attic with next to nothing. We return to the most essential rules of theatre. Nothing is hidden, there are no secrets. We change costumes in full view, and a prompter (also visible) corrects us when we make mistakes. The text must be alive and joyful.
J.D.K. And we share all the roles among ourselves. Eight actors and actresses to play around forty characters! Men play female roles and vice versa. Everyone plays everything, in Molière’s language. We respect the writing of the great Master, with all its old words: “Pendard ! Maraud ! Fripon !” It’s a real challenge for us because French is not our native language. It’s very difficult, and truly exhilarating!
What need is there to return to Molière and to create this new episode in 2026?
D.D.S. We make fun of ourselves through Molière and his characters, who transcend time: Trissotin and intellectual snobbery, Harpagon and pathological greed… The world of appearances, where everything is nothing but a play of masks and deception. All the themes Molière addresses seem eternal. His language is vivid and earthy, and his work is hilarious! Today, we appropriate it in our own way, with great relish, energy, and self-deprecation.
Is the power of the collective still in your DNA?
D.D.S. Of course. It is a political choice to work together always, without hierarchy, around the table, without a director.
J.D.K. Every day, in a small group, we try to reinvent the rules of our micro-democracy. It is difficult and joyful at the same time… In Flanders in recent years, around thirty collectives have emerged. A new generation is coming up, and we’re eager to work with them! Creating 1, 2, 3 Poquelin in 2026 is also an opportunity to continue this adventure with actors. The company Tg Stan is a troupe of actors who do everything themselves, from reading to performing, including dramaturgy, artistic direction, and even posters… It is the heart of it all, as in Molière’s time. With this creation, we rediscover the pure pleasure of playing like children, until exhaustion. And also the joy and trepidation of performing in the mythical quarry of Boulbon.
Interview by Sylvie Martin-Lahmani in february 2026