Paris Match. With “The Satin Shoe”, you promise a true theatrical experience lasting more than seven hours. In an era where everything has to move quickly, is there an audience for this?
Eric Ruf. When Paul Claudel gave birth to this work, the complete version of which is twelve hours long, he did not suppose that it would one day be produced. So it leaves great freedom of representation. I will try to ensure that, from the start, it is like a party: we will involve the public, with graphic scenes, games. And there is the pleasure of apnea: when the spectators enter the theater at 3 p.m. and leave at 11:30 p.m., at the end, they applaud themselves as much as the actors. There are several intermissions, a break for dinner, which will perhaps allow people to sympathize.
Claudel's theater is often considered austere. Wrong?
We reduce him to his reputation as a great Catholic poet, but above all he is an extraordinary dialogue writer, who has a knowledge of human nature, our pride, our jealousies, and who describes them with an empathetic and funny pen. Claudel is not a high-minded guy who writes incomprehensible things. His language is almost a cinema language, very lively. So, the politeness of the clarity of the text, I work on it with great joy for the public.
I'm not leaving because I'm angry or because I was kicked out
Eric Ruf
Next August, you will leave your position as general administrator after eleven years…
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I served my three terms: one of five years, two of three. As I am legalist, I respect the principles. We love making exceptions, trying to save time, but I don't find that good. Before leaving, I put the following season in shape, so that the person who arrives in September can rely on an already fixed schedule. I would love for the guardianship to be able to determine the next administrator well in advance so that we can have a smooth handover. This house has rarely experienced this, because most of the time, the administrators were not reappointed even though they wanted to continue. I'm not leaving because I'm angry or because I was kicked out.
Rehearsal of “Soulier de satin” directed by the director, between the actors Alain Lenglet and Laurent Stocker.
© Julien Liénard
What is the greatest pride in your mandates?
Definitely seeing the rooms filled. And then I think the house opened. Today, quite a few different young people can identify with it. I wanted the Comédie-Française to no longer be an unattainable castle, both for people in the profession and for those from outside. Also, many employees tell me that it is pleasant to work here, because there is joy. I think I worked a lot on a daily basis for that and I feel like it's there. Lately, people stop me and say “thank you”. As if I was resisting something. As if I managed to absorb societal themes, to absorb new aesthetics, while not making a political choice.
I see the troop as a Noah's ark, with all ages, all colors, all schools
Eric Ruf
Among other successes, you opened the troupe to more diversity.
We receive a lot of schoolchildren at the Comédie-Française, around five classes per day in our three rooms. To explain to a child that what they are coming to see is their repertoire and that they can use it, they need to be able to find themselves on the set. I see the troop as a Noah's ark, with all ages, all colors, all schools. There are all types of actors: the rough, the volatile, the pachydermic… That's the beauty of this house.
You joined the Comédie-Française in the early 1990s and left three decades later. You didn't want to stay as a member?
If I stayed, people would definitely elect me to the board of directors. I don't think it would be comfortable for my successor. I entered this house at the age of 23, I played lots of roles there, I created sets, directed it, I administered it… There must not be a single cell left of this hive that I haven't visited. Now I have to know how to move away. Even if I am going to be named an honorary member. A title given to people who worked for this house. It's like having a medal on your old Napoleonic curmudgeon's breastplate. I can be asked to come back and play occasionally, but no more.
I will finally have the time to read something other than initial budgets and amending budgets
Eric Ruf
What do you want to do next?
I don't know if the rest of my career will be more contemplative or just as laborious. I'm going to have some deceleration, that's for sure. Because I have worked so much, here but also outside, I have put on operas, done a bit of cinema. I don't know what proposals will be made to me next. I will obviously not have the same means of production. I will feel lighter without the questions of organization, sponsorship, human resources, without meetingitis. I will finally have time to read something other than initial budgets and amending budgets. It's a literature that I learned but which is not my favorite. I have stacks of books that I bought and waiting for me. Here I wrote a lot, but memos and correspondence. I would now like to write something else. [Il rit.] Not to do theory but to share what has fascinated me for so many years. You don't spend so long with poets without having your own quivering pen. So I have all that waiting for me afterwards. I want to say: marriage is great, but separation is great too.
“The satin shoe”, by Paul Claudel, at the Comédie-Française, Salle Richelieu, from December 21, 2024 to April 13, 2025.
© DR
