The Comédie-Française and the Collège de France : two democratic utopias ?

Abstract

In 1530, François ^I founded the Collège des lecteurs royaux, now the Collège de France, to provide the nation with the knowledge it needed. One hundred and fifty years later, in 1680, Louis XIV founded the Comédie-Française, entrusting it with the monopoly of French-language theater in Paris. These two houses, both several hundred years old, are based on singular models of administrative construction, in which the principal actors and actresses of both places are at the heart of operations and decision-making. Is this the reason for their longevity ?
Moderated by Mathilde Serrell, journalist and producer at France Inter.

ÉricRuf

Actor, director and set designer, Éric Ruf joined the Comédie-Française as an actor in 1993, and became General Administrator in August 2014. He leads an artistic policy that brings together the great masters of stage direction and emerging talents.
In December 2024, he directed a new production of Paul Claudel's Le Soulier de satin at the Comédie-Française's Salle Richelieu. A set designer for his own shows, he regularly creates sets for productions by Denis Podalydès, Clément Hervieu-Léger, Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq, Julie Deliquet..
As an actor, he works in theater, television and film, most recently in Martin Bourboulon's Les Trois Mousquetaires : D'Artagnan and Les Trois Mousquetaires : Milady. In 2020, he launched La Comédie continue ! webtélé de la Comédie-Française, broadcasting 7 days/7 during the eight weeks of confinement. Given the public success of the system, he continues its development by creating Théâtre à la table, a new audiovisual theater object.
Éric Ruf is a Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters.

Mathilde Serrell

Mathilde Serrell is a radio, TV and print journalist. She has been on the air for some twenty years, starting with lemonde.fr, then Radio Nova, Canal +, France Culture, and now France Inter.
Whether for her column " Un Monde Nouveau " (Monday to Thursday in the morning show) or her program " Un Monde Nouveau : grand format " (every Saturday at 6 p.m. 10), she takes an interest in the metamorphoses of our times, through cultural phenomena and societal mutations.
With " Nouvelles Têtes " (Monday to Thursday in the morning show), she gives a voice to emerging players in the field of culture and emancipation.
She collaborates regularly with the Comédie Française and the magazine Légende .