Silvia Monfort - Cocteau, Vilar and The TNP

Cocteau, Vilar and The TNP

In 1945, she attracted notice for her acting in a play by Federico García Lorca, La casa de Bernarda Alba. Her strange and powerful personality drew the attention of Edwige Feuillère, whose reader she became in L'Aigle à deux têtes by Jean Cocteau. The play was first presented in 1946 at the Royal Theatre of the Galeries Royales of Saint-Hubert in Brussels, where she met with great success. After passing through Lyon, the play had its Parisian premiere at the Théâtre Hébertot. Success followed the play all the way to a memorable performance at La Fenice in Venice, greatly contributing to establishing the renown of Silvia's talent.
Playing next in Tennessee Williams' play, Summer and Smoke, she fell in love with Léonor Fini who was then beginning as a set designer. From their friendship a pretty portrait remains: Silvia painted by Léonor (1954).
Through Clavel, she then met Jean Vilar in 1947 and took part in the great adventure that was the Théâtre National Populaire. She thus took part in the first festival d'Avignon, with The Story of Tobias and Sarah (1947). Beside Gérard Philipe, she played Chimène in Le Cid, then performed at Chaillot and subsequently on tour across Europe (1954). Next, she played with Vilar in Cinna and in The Marriage of Figaro. She thus became an emblematic figure of the TNP and of French theatre in the world.