Later this September, Sheffield Theatres' new production of The Hypochondriac, by Molière and adapted by Roger McGough, opens in the Crucible.
But who was Molière? Here are ten things to know about the celebrated 17th century playwright, hailed as the greatest writer of French comedy.
His real name
Molière was a French playwright and actor born in Paris on January 15, 1622. Molière is a stage name; his given name was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin and he was the eldest of six children.
His father was an upholsterer who bought the title of Royal Upholsterer with the intention to pass on this royal appointment to Molière, who had different ideas.
His legacy: revolutionising theatre and comedy
Molière is known as the father of modern French comedy because he added a new twist to the genre and created a fresh kind of comedy. He believed that comedy must serve as a reflection of human nature and reality.
In his plays, the comedy is often based on a 'double vision' that holds together opposing ideas, such as wisdom and folly or right and wrong. He was controversial during his day, but he is now viewed as an icon of French culture.
Before Molière, French theatre was more traditional and serious in tone: comedy and satire had to be done subtly in order to be accepted by the audience. However, Molière completely disregarded that, and revolutionised theatre to become a space where realism was portrayed through comedy, dance and music.
Molière's major plays include:
- The School for Husbands (1661)
- The School for Wives (1662)
- Tartuffe (1664)
- Don Juan (1665)
- The Misanthrope (1666)
- The Miser (1668)
- The Bourgeois Gentleman (1670)
- The Learned Ladies (1672)
- Le Malade Imaginaire (The Hypochondriac) (1673)
Writing style
Molière wrote about the flaws of humanity that he saw all around him each day. He created characters filled with extremes such as misers, hypocrites, hypochondriacs and misanthropes.
These characters are so driven by their extremes that they crash through their stories unable to do anything but exude their fatal flaw.
At the same time, there are always characters who oppose these extremes in Molière’s work, expressing the moderate voice.
Molière's play Tartuffe was originally banned
Tartuffe is the most performed play in French classical theatre.
The famous version of Tartuffe is the third version of the play. It was originally written as a three-act play for a court festival in 1664, but it was denounced as an open attack on religion, and Molière was forbidden to present it in public.
The Archbishop of Paris banned the second version, written in 1667, from both public and private performances. In 1669, King Louis XIV authorised the third and final version of the play, and it went on to great success.
Working with King Louis XIV
Molière’s path to fame began in 1658 when his theatre company performed on an improvised stage at the Louvre in front of King Louis XIV and his brother, Philippe Duc D’Orleans. Philippe loved their performance and from that point forward, always invited Moliere and his theatre group to perform in front of important audiences.
Louix XIV became skeptical of Molière’s adaptations of self-promotion, and appointed a supervisor in charge of reviewing all of his productions. As time passed, Molière gained the trust of Louis XIV and worked closely with him. Their close relationship caused a lot of envy among other theatre groups and among members of the royal court, who claimed Louis XIV favored Molière over them.
His death
The theatrical myth goes that Molière died onstage during a performance of Le Malade Imaginaire(The Hypochondriac).
In fact, Molière actually made it through the performance. It was afterwards he began haemorrhaging from tuberculosis, contracted years earlier, and died several hours after the performance on February 17, 1673.
Association with the Comédie-Française
In 1680, after Molière’s death, two
rival theatre companies in Paris joined together to form the Comédie Française,
which has since been the longest-running company that has performed Molière
uninterrupted.
The Comédie-Française is one of the few state theatres in France and is considered the oldest still-active theatre in the world. It is the only state theatre to have its own troupe of actors. Whilst he’s closely associated with it, Molière was never part of the prestigious institution.
Parallels with Shakespeare
Molière has been described as France’s Shakespeare.
There are many parallels between Shakespeare and Molière: both acted in their own productions, played a part in running a theatre company, had royal patronage, and they both loved to experiment with language.
The main similarity that Shakespeare and Molière share is that we still read their work and produce their plays. There is a universality to Molière and his characters, who say and do things that we can relate to today, even though they are from plays set in a different century.
French has been dubbed the language of Molière
After becoming a national hero, words and phrases used in Molière’s plays were adopted as part of the French language and are still used today.
These include a “tartuffe” (a hypocrite) and “harpagon” (an obsessively greedy and cheap man).
The name Molière is deeply connected to the French language, to the point of being considered its greatest ambassador.
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