The Hypochondriac

‘The Hypochondriac’

by Molière

Translated, adapted and directed by Robert Salvin

ABOUT THE PLAY

One night in Paris, 333 years ago, an actor collapsed on stage and died at home a few hours later.

His name was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin but he was better known as Molière and the part he had been playing, in an irony that would not have been lost on him, was that of the hypochondriac Argan in his own play, ‘Le Malade Imaginaire’.

No priest willing to attend him at this deathbed could be found – not surprising as he had sent up the notion of religious piety so mercilessly in ‘Tartuffe’ ten years earlier.

But then Molière had carved out a career as an iconoclast, a life-long purveyor of uncomfortable truths dressed in farce.

His final play had been no different.

‘Le Malade Imaginaire’ concerns the battle between those with Argan’s interests at heart (his daughters, his brother, and – after a fashion – his maid) and those who are out to fleece him (his second wife and his incompetent doctors).

At the centre is Argan himself (Gripe in our anglicized version), a man too consumed with his own imagined suffering to know what’s good for him.

Stir a story of thwarted passion into the mix, and sprinkle liberally with fart gags, and hopefully we’ve come up with a recipe to amuse you for a while on a chilly Edinburgh night.

CAST

Gripe – Jamie Gordon

Fanny – Joanna Marshall

Belinda – Heather Morrow

Constance – Grit Wesser

Benedict – Tom Foley

Bernard – John Henderson

Dr O’Riordan – Norma Henderson

Dai O’Riordan – Robin Lee

Dr Purger – Robin Lee

Goody – Mary Blackford

PRODUCTION STAFF

Producer – Joanna Marshall

Co-Producer – Frances Tigar

Press and Website – Bob Doherty

Poster – Diarmid Mogg

Ticketing – Rupert Pigot

Transport – Michael Marshall