The Imaginary Invalid.

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Latif Nasser                4/30/2007

The Imaginary Invalid

October 23, 2002

As I sat down in my assigned seat at the Phoenix Theatre @ UVic, I leafed through my programme and waited for the show to start. Being a Molière virgin at the time, I knew nothing about the man, his work, or his style, not to mention his legacy.

Molière was born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin on January 15, 1622, in Paris, France. His love of theatre was born when he was a child and would mimic his priest in church. Theatre became a huge part of his life, to the point that he chose the career path in this field instead of following in the footsteps of his father who held the distinguished position of being the upholsterer for the King. In 1643 he founded L’Illustre Theatre (The Illustrious Theatre Company) which lasted for over three years in Paris. He changed his name to Molière during this time and also began to write short plays. The programme states that Molière’s “plays range from simple farce to sophisticated comedy. They ridicule the weakness and foolish actions of the people of his time, and point to their false values.” Though now, in the year 2002, most theatre considered contemporary during Molière’s time is an anachronism, his plays continue to pick at and ridicule human nature and behaviour. That is why he deserves to be called one of the world’s greatest writers of comedies.

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Close to the end of his life, one of Molière's enemies lampooned him, and accused him of being a hypochondriac. Knowing he was dying, Molière wrote a play to turn both his own tragedy and his scorn for doctors into a comedy. This play was ‘The Imaginary Invalid”

The play starts with the undying hypochondriac Argan (Tom Middleditch) exhausting his time worrying about all of his cellular processes and bodily functions and also worrying about how he is going to pay to keep these processes going in order to keep himself alive. As the play unwinds, it ...

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