The Imaginary Invalid is an absurdist comedy about addiction to questionable medical practices. The idea of a miraculous cure-all that will solve all possible and impossible(!) problems has tempted mankind since time immemorial. Philosophers, physicians, charlatans, but especially patients, have gravitated to this idea. One does not have to be really sick to be obsessed with the need to heal. The fear of the disease can be more destructive than the disease itself. And one will do anything to feel relieved. Solution? An enema. The author, notorious for his derogatory attitude to the medicine of his time, chose it as a symbol of doctors, pharmacists and medicine as such. Since the play's origin, medical science has moved on, and people no longer have to undergo dubious practices with uncertain, if not outright destructive, effects. So why do they keep doing it? In the flood of conflicting information about optimal eating habits, the real causes of disease, and various treatments, a 21st-century man stumbles between a naive devotion to charlatans and an uncritical scepticism of medicine. This, after all, was also Molière's attitude, which, although it may seem a little short-sighted in the light of historical hindsight, is not irrelevant even today. In his last play, Molière does not spare doctors, their practices or medical science itself. It is a cruel twist of fate that it was during the performance of this play that he had a coughing fit, which was fatal to him a few hours later.

 

 

Première January 25, 2025