Paris. At the Comédie-Française, it’s time for a new act. Not on stage, but behind the scenes of its legendary Salle Richelieu. Closed since January, it will remain closed until the end of July, while major repair work is carried out. This prolonged interruption is not a first: already in 2012, the historic room remained closed for a year to redo all the acoustics, thanks to the removal of layers of carpet and velvet which muffled the sound. The shows were then relocated to a temporary theater, installed in the courtyard of the Palais-Royal nearby. This time, no demountable structure: until the summer, the troupe will perform in nine partner theaters.
But why a new closure, barely more than ten years after the first project? The emergency now concerns the stage floor, the last restoration of which dates back more than twenty years. “Usually it is changed every fifteen years. It’s a floor that wears out quickly over time, especially when dirty shows require washing it with water,” explains Patrick Moch, the works manager. Added to this dilapidation is a problem of stability. “When we made sets appear or disappear, there was a slight movement, a lack of stability of the scene. This is not a danger in the strict sense, but rather a reduction of possibilities in terms of programming. Since it was not possible to close several trapdoors, some shows could no longer be performed again. »
If the stage floor is the priority, the entire stage space is restored. The Comédie-Française is taking advantage of the construction site to restructure technical spaces – workshops, offices, changing rooms – and increase storage capacities for sets. “We carried out early work, on an occupied site, to make storage space under the stage accessible. It was an obstacle course to access this room, so we created a ramp, elevators, and opened load-bearing walls to be able to move around,” explains the deputy technical director. The institution is also taking advantage of the closure to renovate its public spaces: the glass roof of the main staircase and the Pierre-Dux foyer. The bar, floor, ceiling and walls have been completely restored, completing this 11 million euro project, financed by the Ministry of Culture and Patronage.
At the same time, the Comédie-Française has a budget of 10 million euros for its energy renovation work, launched across the entire site in 2024. “The idea is really to reduce our consumption. So we are changing most of the windows, we are installing thermal lining wherever we can, we are renovating our central heating system, we are favoring “free-cooling” to create islands of coolness in shared spaces…”, explains Patrick Moch again. A project expected to continue until 2030.
