Premiere: 26 January 2024
Presented in Dezső Mészöly’s translation, the five-act ballet comedy Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme consists of a series of humorous situations depicting an everyman caught in the whirlwind of the madness of ambition. Mr. Jourdain, an average bourgeois, struggles to adopt values and behavior that are foreign to him. Disrupting his family’s peace and denying his origins, he attempts to align his lifestyle with the demands of a higher social circle. The question remains: how authentic and real is the world he imagines today, one that he is forcefully dragging his surroundings and the audience into? The behavior of the characters, who are adrift in the void between the desired and the real world, not only represent Molière’s thoughts, but also the bitter truth-seeking of our own world.
In his directorial efforts, Attila Keresztes consistently returns to the issues often raised by Molière’s comedies: Can lasting harmony exist between people? What role does art and theater play in this? How does a society function when driven by conventions, and what is the role of the individual in it? What happens when an individual’s desires and society’s expectations are at odds with one another? The production seeks answers to these questions using the unique means of theater.
Director: Attila Keresztes
