L'Ecole des Femmes

'Wednesday, March 19. Hanging around today, doing laundry, catching up on blog and (most importantly), finishing the reading of l'Ecole des Femmes, as I am going to see it tonight.

I found a great website, bibliomania.com, which has the text of thousands of books, plays etc etc online, including some foreign works translated into English. This has helped immensely with reading the Moliere, but it's still slow going as I'm also reading it simultaneously in (17th century) French. It's like reading Shakespeare; it's not the language "de nos jours." It will all be worth the effort, however.

This afternoon, I have a visit from Irene, a wonderful Portuguese young woman, who is the femme de menage for this apartment. Dany gave me her phone number, and she stopped by to give me the extra key so I would have one for Jed. (She still has another key.) She is absolutely delightful, and she stays for awhile to chat. Her French is completely fluent. She and her husband have been in Paris for 10 years, and they have a 9 year old son (who of course is completely bilingual - he even goes to Portuguese language school once a week so he will know how to write Portuguese as well as speak it - and who is already learning English in school).

She laughingly tells me that if she could be sure of having a daughter, she would have a second child !! In fact, she has a sister who is 6 months younger than her son because her own mother got pregnant at the age of 40. So she has kind of a sister, niece and daughter rolled into one!

She is passionate about politics and "le foot" (soccer). She is all over the situation with Obama and Clinton, thinks McCain is too old. It was so much fun talking to her! (Good practice because I use "vous" with her and "tu" with Dany so i'm getting to use both forms of "you.")

Irene sees that I am reading the Moliere play so I tell her I am going to see the production with Daniel Auteuil. She tells me not only that he lives in The Marias but that he also frequents a cafe in the rue Roi de Sicile! Guess I'll check that out sometime! She will come next Wednesday, and then every other Wednesday thereafter for an hour.

I'm sitting here reading (about 6 p.m.) and hear something outside like rain but not quite. I open the window and, guess what?! - it's hailing!

At 7:30 p.m., I leave for the theatre, get outside, it's sprinkling, so back up and down the stairs to get my umbrella. Of course, I by the time I get downstairs again, it is barely misting and I never actually use the umbrella the entire evening! Metro from Les Halles to Odeon, then walk to the theatre.

Le Comptoir: At Carrefour de l'Odeon , I walk by this lovely cafe. As usual, there are little tables outside, set for drinking and dining, complete with linen tablecloths - and a little, fleecy stadium blanket with the logo of Le Comptoir rolled up on each table! The French literally will sit outside in any weather! Must go back there sometime. (Vanina tells me later that Le Comptoir is very "hot" at the moment and that it's impossible to get a reservation there!)

Theatre de l'Odeon. This is a little jewel box. It apparently was closed for 5 years, was completely renovated, and then re-opened 2 years ago. I find this out from my seat mate, a lovely older French woman who is in the box with me. We speak in French, of course, then she asks if I'm American. Turns out that she is also (French and American!) and spends 4 months each year in her apartment in Paris and the rest of the time in Palm Beach, Florida! Happily, she continues speaking to me in French (she speaks English with a little French accent!) She recommends another production currently on offer in Paris: l'Antichambre.

Our seats are horrible - we are both horrified that the theatre has the nerve to charge (even 7 euros) for them. Fortunately, we get to move down one row because there are a few empty seats, but even from that vantage point, there is a limited view as most of the action takes place on our side of the stage! I spend a lot of the production standing up in front of a pillar in order to see. Daniel Auteuil is quite good in the lead role - although probably he will never be invited to join the troupe of the Comedie Francaise! - and it's a very demanding role. He's on stage virtually the entire time. The rest of the cast is very good; all in all a satisfying production. VERY enthusiastic audience response (I lost count of the curtain calls) - but not sure how much was just for Auteuil.

The theatre is the traditional French Belle Epoque frou-frou, but the ceiling has been done by a contemporary painter: Andre Masson. It's like the Opera Garnier, all red velvet and gold paint, with a ceiling by Chagall. The curtain has been designed especially for this production, by the set designer. (I find this out because I had inquired of the other people next to me whether they knew (My Palm Beach acquaintance didn't), so at intermission, they apparently go down to either the bookshop or the information desk and find out!).