Molière

Les Misanthrope

comedy

Translated by::

Son of a royal upholsterer, Jean- Baptiste Poquelin, alias Molière – a genius of European theatre culture, unavoidable and influential to this day – wrote his exceptional masterpiece, The Misanthrope, in 1666, at the age of 44. The human-hater. What does it mean to purely and generally hate people? Are we angry with people themselves, or their behaviour in society, hypocrisy, sleekness, dishonesty, when we discover the misanthrope that lives within us? Molière's protagonist, Alceste can hardly make sense of this, either, especially when his love and friendship is at stake. He is in a great debate with the world around him, his friend (Philinte, representing philanthropy), and maybe, in the first place, with himself. This quarrel has been going on for 550 years now – millions of writers, actors, theatrical directors take part in it every day –, and still hasn't found a solution. It is hard to decide if we should laugh or cry at it – or ourselves – in the first place.

 

Cast of characters:

Premier: 2017.04.28