Molière in non-traditional dress

The dramas of memory are always Hamlet in modern dress.
~ Eyeless in Gaza, Aldous Huxley

In France today, some directors still stage Molière in period (17th century) costume, but  increasingly they choose modern or non-traditional dress. We do the same with Shakespeare’s plays; the ability to do so is part of what makes them classics.

In both Tartuffe and Women Educating Women, I translated Molière’s verse into a universal level of prose – heightened, not colloquial – and which would not be out of place in any period or setting from the 17th century to modern day. My goal was to allow English-language directors the same wide scope enjoyed by their counterparts taking on the original French classic. These photos of the famous ‘table scene’ in two productions of my Tartuffe translation show what I mean:

Here are a number of production photos from recent French-language productions of Tartuffe, Les Femmes Savantes and Le Misanthrope in non-traditional sets and costumes. (To be clear, all productions pictured below used Molière’s original French text.)  For more details, hover your cursor over any photo or click on it.

MISANTHROPE Compagnie La Question du Beurre, Tournée en France, 2011 – Arsinoé, Célimène

TARTUFFE Comédie-Française, Paris, 2014 – Mariane, Orgon

MISANTHROPE Cie du Carré Rond, Marseille 2016 – Alceste

MISANTHROPE Comédie-Française, 2014 – Alceste, Dubois, Celimene

TARTUFFE Théâtre de Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland, 2004 – last act

MISANTHROPE Nouvelle Compagnie, Paris, 2011

TARTUFFE Théâtre de l’Athénée-Louis Jouvet, Paris, 1999 – Dorine

TARTUFFE Théâtre de l’Athénée-Louis Jouvet, Paris, 1999

FEMMES SAVANTES Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Montréal 2012 – Philaminte, Clitandre

MISANTHROPE Compagnie Kobal’t, Paris, 2014 – Alceste. Philinte

MISANTHROPE Lucernaire, Paris, 2012 – Celimene

FEMMES SAVANTES – Théâtre des quartiers d’Ivry FR, 2016 – (1960s) Armande, Henriette

MISANTHROPE Théâtre et Compagnie, FR, 2015

TARTUFFE Théâtre national de Strasbourg, France, 2008 – Cleante, Orgon

TARTUFFE Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne, FR 2014 – Dorine, Orgon, Mariane

MISANTHROPE – Vingtième Théâtre, Paris 2016 – Celimene with ipad

TARTUFFE Théâtre de l’Iris, Villeurbanne FR, 2010

MISANTHROPE Théâtre de l’Odéon, Paris, 2012 – Alceste, Philinte

FEMMES SAVANTES Théâtre national de Marseille-La Criée, 2015 – Armande, Philaminte, Belise

TARTUFFE Théâtre de l’Odéon, Paris 2014 – last act

MISANTHROPE Théâtre national de Strasbourg, France, 2003 – ACT II – Alceste, Celimene

FEMMES SAVANTES, Compagnie du Détour: Philaminte, Armand, Bélise awe-struck by Trissotin; Henriette not so much

MISANTHROPE Cie Acquaviva, Paris 2017: Oronte, reading poem from smartphone