Thanks to the inspiring direction by Denis Podalydès of Molière’s “Les fourberies de Scapin” we can experience the fruitful application of sociology to classical theatre production. This combination of thoughts has been performed at the “Comédie Française” for more than 7 years in 2025-11. The accompanying booklet of the performance mentioned the ample inspiration of Denis Podalydès by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Personalities in Molière’s theatre are represented as incarnations of the “habitus” each character stands for. Such an interpretation of the roles in the theatre play, raises awareness about the subtle differences between personalities. Even two rich men may differ in their habitus, because their fortunes are of different size or kind, yet they may share even more personality traits. Molière was a particularly crafted author, director and actor to stage such subtle differences, which are embedded into societies often across generations.
