Molière’s explosive comedy The Imaginary Patient is directed and adapted this summer by Emilios Chilakis and Manolis Dunias.
After the performances of “Don Juan” at the National Theater in 2009 and “Tartufo” in 2016, they are continuing their research on the leading French playwright who always illuminates the darkness of the human soul through the prism of comedy and understands human psychosynthesis. . created characters with universal impact and works that remain relevant to this day.
With The Imaginary Patient, Moliere takes aim at the charlatans and connoisseurs who plague the medical profession. He satirizes the “experts” of his time, who hide behind pompous expressions and fancy terminologies to cover up the inadequacy of their knowledge and their preference for profit and self-interest over the Hippocratic Oath. As one of the most brilliant revolutionary spirits of his time, Moliere not only remains there, but also makes political comments condemning all forms of power and sharply criticizing French society and its ills. Lightly, but angrily, he argues with all kinds of authorities, blinded by arrogance, who, gaining privileges and powers, humiliate and oppress the common citizen.
In a tragic irony, “The Imaginary Patient” was his swan song. In 1673, shortly after the fourth performance of the play in which he played the title role, Moliere, betrayed by doctors and falling ill, died backstage. The production, which will be shown in major theaters in Athens and tour Greece, is the ninth joint direction of Emilios Chilakis and Manolis Dounias, following the hugely successful Medea and Don’t Let This Happen to You. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Othello”, “Antigone”, “Iphigenia”, “Tartufus” and “Alone with Hamlet”.
The game
Under Moliere’s comic microscope comes Argan, an aristocrat who lives a comfortable life of wealth and privilege. He considers himself the center of the world and oppresses those around him by demanding that they serve his whims and fancies. Despite all this, Argan himself suffers, feeling that something is his fault. Horribly hypochondriac and psychophobic, he’s convinced his problem lies in his shaky health. Therefore, he called all the doctors to find a cure for him. But in vain. Doctors – and quacks of all sorts – try all the tried and tested treatments on him to free him from his “unknown” disease, while releasing him with a large sum of money as payment.
As he sees the “scientists” trying to take advantage of him, he decides to marry off his daughter Angelique to the doctor in order to get free medical care, not caring if he is in love with Cleanthes. When Angeliki reacts, Argan, at the insistence of his second wife, Belina, tells her that her only alternative is to lock herself up in a convent. Her maid Tuaneta and her brother Veraldos are the ones who undertake to help her. They convince her to pretend to be dead so she can find out who is using her and who cares about her, who is plotting against her and who really loves her.
But is Argan really sick? If so, does he suffer from a medically curable disease? Or is he a person who is insecure, timid, trying to find out what is wrong despite having everything and is not happy, struggling to arouse the interest and reassurance of those around him by pretending that he is ill? that they care about him? But even though Moliere Argan is content with nothing and lives a comfortable family life, he finally understands that his deepest and most important need is to be loved.