PLAYGOER’S GUIDE Prepared by Production Dramaturg Kimberly Colburn Molière’s Life ean-Baptiste Poquelin (later Marais, the two established profes- farcical one-act that followed. Pa- known as Molière) was bap- sional troupes in Paris. Jean-Baptiste risian audiences also preferred the tized on January 15, 1622; his assumed the stage name of Molière, troupe’s comedies to tragedies. parents, Jean Poquelin and Ma- a common practice for French ac- rie Cressé, were stolid French tors. The Illustre Théâtre survived Molière wrote his first great comedy Jmiddle-class. for 18 months, eventually overcome after settling back in Paris. Affected by debt, rivalry and a lack of lead- Young Ladies (1659) mocks the His father was a master tapissier, ing men. The Compagnie du Saint- pretensions of upper-class Parisian what today might be known as an Sacrement, a fundamentalist reli- women. The play angered several interior decorator; he supplied gious organization, also contributed important people, a pattern that tapestries, furnishings, and mag- to its demise, attacking the actors nificent matrimonial beds to rich and discouraging parishioners from families. Jean-Baptiste attended the attending performances. Collège de Clermont, a fashionable Jesuit school in the Latin Quarter, In 1645, Madeleine and Molière fled and he was clearly intended for a debt in Paris by joining a touring career in the family business. After troupe of actors. By 1653, the pair studying civil law at the University had assumed management of the of Orléans, Jean-Baptiste began a troupe. Molière began to write and life in the theatre, much to the dis- star in full-length plays inspired by pleasure of his parents. commedia dell’arte scenarios, find- ing that his true talent lay in comedy. In June 1643, Jean-Baptiste formed In 1658, Madeleine and Molière re- the Illustre Théâtre with his girl- turned to Paris. She had saved funds friend and actress Madeleine Béjart, to sublease the Théâtre du Marais an independent, redheaded woman and Molière had acquired a patron, several years older than he was. the brother of King Louis XIV. On Although a young company, the Il- October 24, 1658, the troupe per- lustre Théâtre took on the Hôtel formed a tragedy by Corneille for Madeleine Béjart de Bourgogne and the Théâtre du the court, but Louis preferred the would be repeated over the next ture satires tinged with sadness. The 14 years, as Molière acquired a long School for Wives (1663), The Misan- roster of enemies, both political and thrope (1666), Tartuffe (1664), Don artistic. Molière wrote several plays Juan (1665), The Bourgeois Gentle- about obsessive jealousy, including man (1670), and The Imaginary The School for Husbands (1661), Invalid (1673) all explore obses- his first huge hit. These plays, which sive male behavior. They also attack feature older men attempting to at- hypocrites in society, from the sim- tain young women, would prove pering courtiers flattering Louis XIV strangely prophetic. to the religious fanatics preaching salvation while lining their pockets. Around this time, Molière and Mad- Outraged by the attack on religious eleine began to live apart; in 1662, hypocrisy in Tartuffe, the Com- he married her beautiful daughter pagnie du Saint-Sacrement used Molière’s tomb in Père-Lachaise Armande (passed off as Madeleine’s its court connections to have the cemetery, Paris “sister”). Molière’s enemies whis- play banned. In this instance, even pered that Armande, some 20 years Molière’s close relationship with younger than the playwright, was his the king could not save him. After nary Invalid. Molière actually made own daughter. If the one-act auto- countless rounds of censorship, the it through the performance; after- biographical comedy The Versailles play was finally performed five years ward, he began hemorrhaging from Impromptu (1663) is any indication, after it was written. tuberculosis contracted years earlier it was not a happy marriage. and died several hours later on Feb- Molière’s final years were filled with ruary 17, 1673. Another myth is that During the final decade of Molière’s bad health and personal troubles. Molière was denied burial in sacred life, he achieved great success: he He and Armande separated several ground. Armande petitioned the wrote entertainments for the court, times, and only one of his children archbishop of Paris and the king and and garnered patronage from the survived infancy. Theatrical myth was granted the right to bury her king, which further provoked his ri- has it that Molière died onstage husband at the parish cemetery of vals. Molière’s later works were ma- during a performance of The Imagi- St-Eustache. Louis XIV invites Molière to share his supper – an unfounded Romantic anecdote, illustrated in 1863 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme Molière’s Theatre olière’s theatre celebrated Like any event at court, strict rules of the drama of artificiality. social behavior were expected to be Like the literature, art and followed. The creation of theatre also Msocial customs of the time, was subject to rigorous guidelines. the 17th-century French theatre was The Académie Française, created based on a formal set of rules and by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635, was a customs. While there were touring group of intellectuals charged with troupes who would travel through regulating French language and cul- the country, often performing in ture. Their taste in theatre was firmly makeshift spaces and on the streets, Neo-classicist: “Neo” meaning new, attending the theatre in Paris or at and “classicist” referring to the clas- the court was a formal social event. sics, the great works of Greek and Roman drama. The Académie cre- Performances in Paris were held ei- ated guidelines for “good” theatre, ther in public theatres or by special based on the writing of the ancient invitation only at the palace court. Greek philosopher Aristotle. The theatres had a proscenium arch or a border framing the stage. Be- Aristotle wrote that a tragedy con- Aristotle depicted by Raphael, holding hind the arch, the scenery was com- tains three unities: time, place and his Ethics: detail from the Vatican fresco posed of lavish painted sets, and the action. Unity of time dictated that The School of Athens, 1510 – 1511 actors’ costumes were ornate. The the action of the play take place in a lights remained on over both the single day and unity of place that the While these rules might seem limit- audience and the stage, allowing the play take place at a single location. ing, there were several playwrights, members of the audience to see and Unity of action determined that the including Pierre Corneille (1606-84) be seen at the event. When perform- action of the play contribute to the the father of French tragedy, who ing at court, the king would sit in an main story, without any distracting flourished within them. In Corneille’s enormous throne in the center of the subplots. French tragedies were criti- heroic epic, Le Cid (1637), as well room with the rest of the audience cized by academics based on how as many of his other plays, the main positioned around him. well they adhered to these unities. character makes a moral choice to do what is right, regardless of per- sonal cost. Jean Racine (1639-99) was another highly respected writer of tragedy. His plays, including Phèdre (1677), are very passionate and po- etic and often focus on doomed love. The language of tragedy also was expected to conform to strict rules. French plays were written in Alex- andrine couplets—a verse form that consists of two rhyming lines of 12 syllables each. Each rhyming couplet was to contain a complete thought. As the verse form developed, so did rules about when pauses could occur (between the sixth and seventh syl- lable of each line.) Molière began his career in the the- From Les plaisirs de l’ile enchantée, the play performed on the stage is Molière’s La atre as an actor, but found French Princesse d’Elide. It was the first time it was ever performed in public. tragedy too difficult. Delivering the Alexandrine lines was very demanding on an actor’s voice. As a performer, Molière found he did not have enough breath to perform the Alexandrine verse of tragedy, but instead he excelled as both an actor and writer of comedy. An evening at the theatre often would include a comedy as a companion piece to the more serious tragedy that was considered the main event. Louis XIV and the courtiers of- ten would prefer the lighter fare of the comedies, especial- ly Molière’s. While French tragedies were considered great literature by the academics, comedies were not taken as seriously and therefore not as subject to criticism of form “Masks of the Italian comedy,” an anonymous painting of the and language. Molière had the freedom to write in both seventeenth century. verse and prose, and he was considered the greatest com- ic writer of his time. (SCR’s production uses David Ball’s adaptation of Tartuffe, which abandons Molière’s use of ,Molière also incorporated masks into his work, but instead rhyming couplets in all but a few scenes.) of simply using them to define character types, Molière used the masks as a metaphor for the masks people wear Molière’s comedies were influenced heavily by Italian to hide their true selves. Molière’s comedies were sharp commedia dell’arte troupes touring Europe. Commedia social commentaries, satirizing the behavior and hypoc- dell’arte was based in improvisation and included stock risies of the nobility. Though Molière’s company had the characters in a variety of predetermined scenarios. The support of the court, and was frequently asked to perform actors wore masks to define their character type and per- there, his plays often were censored or banned because formed slapstick gags, called lazzi.