“The Imaginary Invalid” by Molière
DIRECTED BY: Thodoris Ampazis

VENUE: Lazaristes Monastery - Sokratis Karantinos Stage

Α FEW WORDS ABOUT THE PLAY
Argan is suffering. His health is in tatters and the doctors are trying out every treatment known to science to rid him of his malaise. But is the patient a real patient? Are the doctors real doctors and—one has to ask—is medicine a real science? In his famous comedy, Molière questions the motives and intentions of both patient and doctors, commenting on the underlying psychological conditions discernible behind the stock comic characters. As a result, his protagonists are revealed in all their prosaic humanity: small, scared, selfish and weak. Deeper motives and agendas will be peeled away to reveal human relationships in all their truth and viciousness.

“The Imaginary Invalid” was premiered in 1673. Already sick and disillusioned with medical science, Molière rejects it completely in his final work. His health would deteriorate to the extent that he would die having managed to play the role of Argan just four times.

This is the fourth time the National Theatre of Northern Greece has staged the final comedy by the master of the French classical stage. Argan the fearful hypochondriac will confront anew his phobias, his egoism, and the need to control his life — a sweet life lived out among creature comforts but under a shadow: for no authority can guarantee that there will be a tomorrow.