Gérard Darmon and Clotilde Courau put themselves in “A delicate situation”, and we laugh

The husband, the wife, the lover, a trio as old as the world but the Briton Alan Ayckbourn gives it a facelift in A delicate situationby putting the handsome boy in love and the old lover in competition.

Either Julie (Elodie Navarre) with whom Nicolas (Max Boublil) is madly in love. Her too. Only here, she must get rid of her lover Philippe (Gérard Darmon) who is twenty years older than her, himself married to Marianne (Clotilde Courau). She therefore decides to go to Philippe’s in the nearby countryside to break up definitively, on the pretext that she is going to her parents’.

The opportunity, thinks Nicolas, to be introduced to his in-laws and it is he who arrives first by surprise by introducing himself to Marianne. Obviously, a cascade of misunderstandings follows, because Nicolas takes his two guests for what they are not.

From there, a game of ping-pong is orchestrated without downtime, further reinforced when Julie arrives, devastated by the presence of Nicolas. Our British author, a good heir to Feydeau, knows how to put the four characters in an embarrassment from which one always wonders how they will get out.

Clotilde Caurau, Max Boublil, Gerard Darmon (BERNARD RICHEBÉ / 2022-01-28-NEWS-SITUATION)

And we are surprised, with the rest of the room, to really laugh at this new mise en abyme of a genre, the boulevard, indestructible. It must also be said that the actors slip with delight into this score, which is sometimes new to them. Darmon, with a deep voice and a strong presence, puts on the costume of an outdated old lover and often in perfect bad faith with a lot of self-mockery.

In the role of the abandoned wife, generous and fine fly, Clotilde Courau is delicious. Very fair also in the role of Julie, Elodie Navarre in a panic that continues to grow. As for comedian Max Boublil, who is taking his first steps in the theatre, he shows great relaxation and a real sense of rhythm.

Elodie Navarre and Gérard Darmon in “A delicate situation” (BERNARD RICHEBÉ)

All this staged by Ladislas Chollat ​​in a delightful suburban garden, the dream of any confined Parisian. In the candy box of the Théâtre des Novelties full to bursting and overheated, we spend a delicious moment.

“A Delicate Situation” by Alan Ayckbourn
Theater of Novelties
24 Boulevard Poissonniere, 75009 Paris
01 47 70 52 76