Award-winning French Comedy Amuses Shanghai Audiences

The adaptation of the Molière Award-winning comedy "Le prénom" premiered in Shanghai this month. French director Claudia Stavisky led Chinese actors to treat the audience to French humor filled with witty dialogue.

Jointly written by French playwrights Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, the story begins with a family gathering and a dispute over naming a child, unfolding through a humorous yet sharp lens to offer incisive observations on family dynamics, generational expectations, and predetermined fates.

Award-winning French Comedy Amuses Shanghai Audiences

Credit: Ti Gong

Caption: The original play earned multiple awards and nominations for the Molière Award, France's national theater award.

Audiences can easily see reflections of their own relationships with family: the expectations imposed in the name of love, the unintended harm caused by careless words, and the universal desire – buried beneath trivial quarrels – to be understood and accepted.

It is precisely these elements that allow the work to transcend cultural boundaries and resonate with audiences worldwide.

After its premiere in Paris in 2010, the original play quickly became a hit, earning multiple awards and nominations for the Molière Award, France's national theater award. Its performance rights have since been acquired and staged in over 40 countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and now China.

Credit: Ti Gong

Caption: French director Claudia Stavisky (third left) watched the Shanghai premiere.

"The Chinese actors are incredibly skilled and dedicated. They spent a great deal of time studying the script and refining the details," director Stavisky remarked after the Shanghai premiere. "Seeing the audience laugh so heartily throughout the performance was truly fulfilling for me."

The play's French set designer, Alexandre de Dardel, meticulously recreated a Parisian middle-class living room brimming with authentic everyday textures.

The single-act structure and unchanging space direct the audience's full attention to the subtle shifts in relationships and the dramatic tension woven through the characters' verbal exchanges.