Is there a right way to say verse ? In a house like the Comédie-Française, which relies on a permanent troupe where the art of telling is passed down from one generation to the next, on stage and in the corridors, there are many different approaches, but one common certainty : in verse as in prose, you have to tell a story and make meaning heard. Three great wordsmiths, Éric Ruf, Denis Podalydès and Danièle Lebrun, evoke the modernity of verse from Racine to Claudel.
Trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique under Viviane Théophilidès, Michel Bouquet and Jean-Pierre Vincent, Denis Podalydès made his Comédie-Française debut in 1997, playing Mikhaïl Alexandrovitch Rakitine in Ivan Tourgueniev's Un mois à la campagne. In 2000, he became the 505th member of the Troupe and was awarded the Molière for theatrical revelation for his role in Gogol's Le Révizor by Jean-Louis Benoit. Denis Podalydès has been called upon by many renowned directors in a wide variety of fields, and has directed a number of works including Les Fourberies de Scapin, Cyrano de Bergerac (awarded six Molières, including Best Director), Marivaux's Le Triomphe de l'amour and Mozart's opera La Clémence de Titus.
In addition to short films and TV movies, Denis Podalydès has taken part in a large number of films, including most of his brother Bruno's films, which he co-wrote : Versailles-Rive gauche, Dieu seul me voit, Liberté-Oléron, Adieu Berthe. Also an author, he has published several books, including Voix off (2008), Fuir Pénélope (2014), Albums de la Pléiade, n°55 : Shakespeare (2016). He is a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.
Denis Podalydès is the 505th member of the Comédie-Française troupe.
543rd member since January1 2025
Joined the Comédie-Française on April 11 2011
After a first prize in Comédie at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique de Paris, Danièle Lebrun joined the Comédie-Française troupe in 1958, leaving two years later to join the Théâtre de la Huchette, where she appeared in Ionesco's La Cantatrice chauve directed by Nicolas Bataille. Among her many collaborations, Roger Planchon cast her as Angélique in George Dandin in 1966, Laurent Terzieff in Tango de Mrożek and Jorge Lavelli in Beaucoup de bruit pour rien. Jean Anouilh directed her, with Roland Piétri, in two of his plays, Ne réveillez pas Madame in 1970, then Colombe where she played the title role. Her performance in Mishima's Madame de Sade with the Renaud-Barrault troupe earned her the Prix du Syndicat de la critique in 1976. She appeared in Queneau's Exercices de style for Jacques Seiler, Oscar Wilde's L'Importance d'être constant for Jérôme Savary and Schnitzler's La Ronde by Alfredo Arias at the Théâtre de l'Odéon with the Comédie-Française. She won the Molière for Best Supporting Actress in 1992(Le Misanthrope by Francis Huster) and again in 2006(Pygmalion by Nicolas Briançon). She has acted on several occasions for Christophe Lidon and, in 2019, in Caryl Churchill's Du ciel tombaient des animaux by Marc Paquien.
In 2011, Danièle Lebrun was once again hired as a resident of the Comédie-Française. She became the 543rd member on January1 2025. She excels in both the classical and contemporary repertoires. She starred in two shows for the general public adapted from Andersen, La Reine des neiges, l'histoire oubliée by Johanna Boyé and La Petite Sirène by Géraldine Martineau, and in Amine Adjina and Émilie Prévosteau's Théorème/Je me sens un cœur à aimer toute la terre, as well as plays by Julie Deliquet(Fanny et Alexandre), Pauline Bureau(Hors la loi) and Françoise Gillard(La Ballade de Souchon). Author and director Lars Norén cast her in Poussière, Alain Françon in La Trilogie de la villégiature and Les Trois Sœurs, while she performed Labiche for Giorgio Barberio Corsetti(Un chapeau de paille d'Italie), Molière for Galin Stoev(Tartuffe), Shakespeare for Éric Ruf(Roméo et Juliette)... She presented two Singulis/Seule-en-scène : L'Envers du music-hall by Colette and Le Silence de Molière by Giovanni Macchia, directed by Anne Kessler.
In addition to television adaptations of plays(Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, La Double Inconstance) by Marcel Bluwal and series (including Les Nouvelles Aventures de Vidocq), she has acted in films for Jacques Audiard(Un héros très discret), Claude Berri(Uranus, La Débandade, Ensemble, c'est tout), Éric Rohmer(Conte d'hiver), as well as Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, Clément Michel, Robert Guédiguian, Philippe de Broca, Valérie Lemercier, Sylvie Testud, Matthieu Kassovitz.. She also starred in Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi's Les Trois Sœurs (collection " Le Cinéma de la Comédie-Française ", Ina's Madelen platform) and Sois belle et tais-toi, un Théâtre à la table directed by Françoise Gillard after Delphine Seyrig (available free of charge on the Comédie-Française YouTube channel).
Since December 21 2024 at the Salle Richelieu, she has played Doña Honoria, the Chancellor, the Chamberlain and the Nun in Paul Claudel's Le Soulier de satin directed by Éric Ruf.
Judith Chaine studied literature (DEA at the Sorbonne Paris IV) and music (piano, organ, chamber music, singing) before turning naturally to music journalism. Since 2002, she has written the " Musique Classique "columnfor the weekly Télérama Sortir.
A producer at Radio France, she has worked for France Culture (Tout Arrive from 2005 to 2007), France Info (Sorties de Salles) and essentially France Musique since 2007. On this station, she produced various soap operas for Au bonheur des gammes, a musical and literary series directed by Dominique Jameux, then co-hosted the the morning show with Stéphane Grant (2008-2010).
In 2012, she became producer of the program Samedi à l'opéra. In addition, she has been the coordinator and main producer of France Musique's Grands Entretiens since the 2017-2018 season.
In 2015, Judith Chaine began working as a dramaturge ( Monteverdi's Le retour d'Ulysse with Emmanuelle Haïm at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Verdi'sLa Traviata directed by Chloé Lechat at the Opéra de Limoges in February 2022).
She has also been working closely with the Comédie-Française since the 2020-2021 season, regularly hosting the magazine Quelle Comédie!
Since June 2018, she has been working for France Télévision on Musiques en fête live from the Théâtre Antique d'Orange, which she co-presents with Cyril Féraud, and on the Victoires de la Musique Classique , which she co-presents with Leïla Kaddour-Boudadi in 2019 and 2020.
