Marcel-Louis Bozonnet (born 18 May 1944, in

Semur-en-Auxois Semur-en-Auxois () is a commune of the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. The politician François Patriat, the engineers Edmé Régnier L'Aîné (1751–1825) and Émile Dorand (1866-1922), and the Encyclopédiste Philippe Guéneau de ...

), is a French

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

. Bozonnet entered the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real ...

in 1982, and became a " sociétaire" in 1986. He subsequently directed the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique de Paris from 1993 to 2001. Appointed administrateur général of the Comédie-Française in 2001, il opened the ''salle Richelieu'' to contemporary authors (creating a poay of

Valère Novarina Valere or Valère may refer to: People *Valère Amoussou (born 1987), Beninese football player * Valère Billen (born 1952), Belgian football coach * Valère Germain (born 1990), French football player *Valère Gille (born 1867), Belgian poet * V ...

in 2006), created a notable show on the ''Fables'' of

Jean de La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Eur ...

produced by

Bob Wilson Bob Wilson may refer to: Association footballers *Bob Wilson (footballer, born 1867) (1867–?), Irish international footballer of the 1880s * Bob Wilson (footballer, born September 1898) 1920s, Scottish footballer with Third Lanark and Fall R ...

, and recruited the first black member of the Théâtre Français (

Bakary Sangaré Bakary is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Abubakar Khamis Bakary, Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Tanzania *Bakary Diakité (born 1980), Malian footballer of part German descent currently playing for FSV Frank ...

). Nonetheless, certain of his productions did not convince the critics, such as ''Le Tartuffe'' (which he produced himself), and ''Le Cid'' (El Cid) in 2006. In 2006, he was at the centre of a row after he discontinued the production of a play by

Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored ...

'' Voyage au pays sonore ou l'Art de la question'', which was under negotiation in 2007. Handke, an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n playwright, had attended the burial of the reviled Serbian leader

Slobodan Milosevic Slobodan ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан) is a Serbo-Croatian masculine given name which means "free" (''sloboda'' / meaning "freedom, liberty") used among other South Slavs as well. It was coined by Serbian liberal politician Vladimir Jovanović w ...

and had made a speech there denying the events of the

Yugoslav war The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

. It was for this reason that Bozonnet withdrew support for showing Handke's play.

Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres (born 13 March 1954 in Neuilly-sur-Seine), often known as RDDV, is a French politician, France's Minister of Culture from 2004 to 2007. He is a member of the UMP center-right party, and the grandson of Henri Donnedi ...

, the French minister of culture, implicitly criticized Bozonnet's action in a letter addressed to Bozonnet, and by deciding to invite Handke to the ministry. Despite hoping for another term as administrator of the Comédie-Française, his directorship was not renewed, and Muriel Mayette took over on 4 August 2006.

External links

*
Comédie Française
site (French) French theatre managers and producers 1944 births Living people Administrators of the Comédie-Française People from Côte-d'Or Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française French male stage actors French male film actors French male television actors {{france-actor-stub