The action of the mapping class group of a surface S on the homology of the space F_n(S) of ordered  configurations of n points in S is well understood when S has genus 0, but is not very well understood when S has positive genus. In this talk I will report on joint work with Clément Dupont (Montpellier) in the case where S is a compact surface of genus at least 2. We give a strong lower bound on the size of the Zariski closure of the image of the Torelli and mapping class groups in the automorphism group of the degree n cohomology of F_n(S). Our main tools are Hodge theory and the Goldman Lie algebra of the surface, which is the free abelian group generated by the conjugacy classes in the fundamental group of S.