Alternate Title Le Malade imaginaire
Premiere US Premiere
Production Language French
Country of Origin France
Description For more than three centuries the actors of France’s esteemed Comédie-Française have set the standard by which all Molière is measured. In a very special, one-week-only engagement this June, the world-renowned company performs in New York for only the fourth time in the past 25 years. Under the vibrant direction of Claude Stratz, the troupe returns to BAM with a rollicking production of Molière’s deliciously satirical final play, The Imaginary Invalid (Le Malade imaginaire), a no holds-barred indictment of the seventeenth-century medical establishment disguised as an extremely witty family saga.
In debt to his incompetent physicians, the chronically hypochondriacal, albeit perfectly healthy, Argan contrives to marry his daughter Angélique to an imbecilic medical student, thereby granting himself a lifetime of free medical care. Angélique, of course, loves someone else. Infuriated by his daughter’s stubbornness, Argan plots to expose everyone’s true feelings by faking his own death. Among the revelations: his second wife’s plan to nullify Angélique’s inheritance. But all is not lost. This is Molière! And all ends well, literally and happily for all concerned, once Argan is wisely convinced to take his health care into his own hands.
Sadly, this was Molière's last comedy as well as his final act. The playwright himself, who had long been suffering from a serious illness, was beyond the help of any physician. After a mere four performances, in the role of his hapless Argan, Molière collapsed onstage and later died—a bittersweet twist on the play’s radical theme.
Identifier 2004s.00789
