Guest opposite Bernard Montiel in the show An hour with on RFM, Clotilde Courau spoke about her experience at the theater in the play The singer from Mexicoan operetta by Francis Lopez directed by Emilio Sagi in 2006 at the Théâtre du Châtelet. Playing the role of Cricri in the play, the mother of Vittoria and Luisa was paralyzed by stage fright when she went on stage in front of the spectators.
She says: “It was quite a complicated adventure since it was the first time I found myself, I had just given birth (editor's note: she gave birth to Luisa on August 16, 2006) and for the premiere, I was at the Théâtre du Châtelet, a very impressive venue and it was the first time that I couldn't be… I I was split, the stage fright was so violent that I was absent and found myself criticized. The show was wonderful but there was one person who was very annoying, it was me.”.
Very hard on herself, the wife of Emmanuel Philibert de Savoie then read several criticisms pointing the finger at her and designating her as a bad actress. Words that had deeply upset her. “I see one review, a second and each time it’s the same thing, it’s that there’s really a person you wonder why they’re there.”
They did me a favor
Embarrassed in relation to the director, the princess then takes her courage in both hands and goes to face the producers of the play to ask them to leave, feeling too much. She confides: “I tell them, I'm really sorry, there's no problem, I think it's better that I be replaced and they did me a favor, they told me 'we know why we have you taken, we know why you are Cricri and you stay'”. A great proof of confidence for the 55-year-old actress who admits that she would have stopped her career on the stage if she had stopped there.
Clotilde Courau, an ordeal that was “a gift”
“They did me a favor because it was at a point in my career where I was quite fragile, he would have replaced me, I think I might not have continued my job so it was a very good ordeal because once again, trials are gifts and it forces you to know why you are doing this and to know who the people are who hire you and who believe in you“ she concluded very wisely.
