We have given the play both a real and an imaginary context.
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On February 17, 1673, Moliere becomes ill during the fourth
performance of "The Imaginary Invalid" and is carried home where he will
die later that evening. Let's pretend that before being taken to his room, he stops in the laundry room where sheets are hanging to dry and where the lighting resembles that of Georges de La Tour's paintings. |
| Let's pretend that in order to help him to forget his suffering
and to prolong his life, the actors surround him and begin an impromptu
PERFORMANCE. Let's pretend that they choose to perform "Love is the Best Doctor" because this play is an incisive satire of the physicians unable to cure him. |
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Let's pretend that without sets and without costumes, but simply using the objects that surround them, they are able to muster the strength to perform in the style of the traditional French farce and the Italian commedia dell'arte. |
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Let's pretend that Moliere revives for a moment, plays along, and finds the energy to perform with his troupe one last time. |
| Thus our show is not an historical re-enactment, but rather it finds inspiration in a legendary moment and contributes to its mythification in a humble way. | Thus our mise-en-scene becomes a tribute to Moliere, the complete man of the theatre, who was not only a playwright, but also an actor, a stage director, and a manager. |
| Thus we have chosen to frame comedy within tragedy so that
laughter and tears become one.
Didier Rousselet |
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