The Imaginary Invalid

Molière’s last play is a sparkling satire on the medical profession written, ironically, in the final days of the playwright’s life. Doctors and patients alike come under scrutiny when Argan, the hypochondriac, decides that his daughter must marry a physician so that he will always have a doctor around. Andrei Belgrader, mischievous director of some of the A.R.T.’s most deliriously funny shows—including The Servant of Two Masters and Ubu Rock—returns to stage this ebullient and best-loved of Molière’s comedies. The perfect prescription for your serious condition, The Imaginary Invalid will have you in sutures—um, stitches!

SYNOPSIS

In order to obtain the constant medical attention he craves, the hypochondriac Argan is determined to marry his daughter Angélique to Thomas Diafoirus, a pedantic medical student. But Angélique, encouraged by her uncle Béralde and her wiley servant Toinette, is in love with Cléante.

Cléante disguises himself as a music teacher to gain access to Angélique, but Argan’s second wife Béline, interested only in her husband’s considerable fortune, threatens to expose the young lovers’ plan. Disaster must surely follow, until Toinette decides to take matters into her own hands.