Théâtre de l’Atelier, PARIS

With Jacques Weber

and Philippe Dupont.

There are moments in the theatre when one is privileged to observe something which is – in the truest sense of the word – extraordinary.

Gustave, as performed by Jacques Weber, is one of those.

For most French people, the name “Gustave” will immediately evoke either Eiffel or Flaubert.

Gustave Flaubert is known to English speakers mostly for “Madame Bovary”, a character which has become an icon and a point of reference; but his list of works is much longer than that.  He wrote for the theatre as well as other novels and also a work unfinished at his death and concluded and subsequently published by his friend the publisher, Louis Conard, entitled “Dictionnaire des Idées Reçues” (A dictionary of preconceived ideas) in which, with a black humour, he mocks the society of the day.

In the introduction to the play Arnaud Bédouet, the author, describes Flaubert as “an anarchist in the body of a bourgeois” and describes the anger of a free spirit trapped in society’s constraints.

By using passages from Flaubert’s letters and with reference to his published works, M. Bédouet has created an impassioned monologue which rails against mediocrity in all its forms; artistic, social and political.  Whilst the references are firmly grounded in Flaubert’s world, the resonance for today’s society and particularly the artistic world are stunningly appropriate.  One line, for example, ‘Success is a result – not a target’.

Jacques Weber has been one of France’s leading actors for over 40 years in film, TV and theatre.  His presence on the stage is overwhelming and his performance in this play is nothing short of spectacular.  He moves through a range of emotions;  drawing us deeper and deeper into Flaubert’s world, sharing agony, joy, despair, delight (at a thunderstorm), cynicism, fury (at the mediocrity he sees in published works) … the evening is a roller coaster ride which M. Weber shares with the audience in a total commitment to the character.

This is one of those “must see” productions, but it only runs until the 31 December.