Muriel Mayette-Holtz

2015-2018

Artist, actress and director Muriel Mayette-Holtz was General Administrator of the Comédie-Française (France) from 2006 to 2014, the first woman to hold this position since the company was founded in 1680. From the year 2000 to 2006 she was also Professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique.

In 1985, at the age of 20, Muriel Mayette-Holtz entered the Comédie-Française shortly after completing her studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique, and in 1988 was appointed as the 477th partner of the prestigious institution. During her experience at the Comédie-Française she played many roles, under the direction of Antoine Vitez (La Celestina by Fernando de Rojas, 1989), Claude Régy (No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, 1990), Jacques Lassalle (The False Servant by Marivaux, 1991; George Dandin by Molière, 1992; Platonov by Anton Chekhov, 2003), Matthias Langhoff (Dance of Death by August Strindberg, 1996; Lenz and Leonce and Lena by Georg Büchner, 2002), Alain Françon (The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, 1998), Philippe Adrien (The Maids by Jean Genet, 1997), Catherine Hiegel (The Learned Ladies by Molière, 1987; The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, 2000; The Miser by Molière, 2011), Claude Stratz (The Imaginary Invalid by Molière, 2001; Il berretto a sonagli by Luigi Pirandello, 2005). Furthermore, in 2007-2008 she interpreted The Imaginary Invalid by Molière directed by Claude Stratz and The Fables by La Fonataine by Robert Wilson for the Comédie-Française.

At the same she pursued her career as director, working on texts of the leading classical and contemporary playwrights. In Paris at the Théâtre National de l’Odéon she presented Oh! mais où est la tête de Victor Hugo? based on the works of Victor Hugo, (1990); at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier she debuted with Les Amants puérils by Fernand Crommelynck (1993), Chat en poche by Georges Feydeau (1998), Rain dancers by Karin Mainwaring (2001), La Dispute by Marivaux (2009); at the Studio-Théâtre with Winter Tales by William Shakespeare (2004) and Dramolette by Thomas Bernhard (2005). At the Salle Richelieu she staged Clitandre by Corneille (1996), Le retour au désert by Bernard Marie-Koltès (2007), L’Hommage à Molière (2008), Mistero buffo by Dario Fo and Andromaca by Jean Racine (2010). Her production of Berenice by Jean Racine was created on tour in 2010-2011. Her most recent production at the Salle Richelieu is A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (2014).

Outside the Comédie-Française she acted in The Misanthrope by Molière, under the direction of André Engel; The Government Inspector by Nicolas Gogol – a play created in 2003 at the Teatro Stabile in Genoa which went on tour throughout Italy, including a passage at the Teatro Argentina in Rome – Quartett by Heiner Müller and Dona Rosita by Federico García Lorca, three plays by Matthias Langhoff; La Leçon de M. Pantalone, with Mario Gonzalez, under the direction of Christophe Patty (on tour in 2006).

Muriel Mayette-Holtz is Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite and Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’honneur.

Appointed director of the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici in September 2015, Muriel Mayette-Holtz is the first woman to direct the Academy.