Le Suicidé: the new play from La Comédie-Française

Le Suicidé is on at La Comédie-Française, in the Salle Richelieu, from October 11 to February 2, 2025. Although its name may not sound very cheerful, the play is a burlesque and committed new production. It's a comedy for a good laugh, but also for philosophical reflection on social and philosophical issues.

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Le Suicidé tells the story of Semione, a lazy, disillusioned unemployed man who depends entirely on his wife and mother-in-law, living in a collective apartment in the Soviet Union. One night, after an argument caused by a sudden craving for sausage, he goes into the kitchen for a snack. But his wife, fearing that he might attempt suicide, calls a neighbor for help.

In the darkness, he mistakes the sausage for a pistol. Rumors of his imminent suicide soon spread, reaching the ears of various representatives of society. Seeing in this potential martyr a chance to get their demands across, as "only the dead can express out loud what the living are thinking", they cynically seek to convince Semione to sacrifice himself for their causes.

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This new comic production, which has entered the Comédie-Française repertoire, combines boulevard mechanisms with philosophical tirades denouncing societal problems. The ridiculous situation of Le Suicidé lends a burlesque edge to Nicolaï Erdman 's play , directed by Stéphane Varupenne.

For Stéphane Varupenne, this will be his first solo staging after co-directing Les Serge (Gainsbourg point barre) and Les Précieuses ridicules with Sébastien Pouderoux. Le Suicidé is set in 1928, 11 years after the Russian Revolution, and Stéphane Varupenne aims to inspire Comédie-Française audiences with "yellow laughter, nervous laughter, polite laughter and a bulwark against despair.