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.
