Painfully Funny ‘The Imaginary Invalid’ Opens At Civic Theatre
Moliere loved to play hypochondriacs for laughs.
This 17th-century French playwright was somewhat of a hypochondriac himself. So he knew how to write characters who imagine themselves to be deathly ill. He also knew how to portray them hysterically on stage.
Which makes one wonder: When he suffered a fatal convulsion in the middle of delivering the key speech in “The Imaginary Invalid,” on Feb. 17, 1673, did audiences think it was part of the scene?
Did they laugh? Did they applaud, right up to the point when he was carted offstage, never to recover?
History does not reveal the answer, but knowing Moliere’s mischievous mind, he wouldn’t have minded. A veteran theater satirist could hardly pick a more fitting way to go than during a play which contains such lines as, “Most men die, not of their diseases, but of their remedies” (not so much a joke as a truism, given the state of medical technique at the time).
Need we even point out that “The Imaginary Invalid” was Moliere’s last play? His convulsion came in the fourth performance of this play, at the Theatre Palais Royal in Paris. He died later that night, at the age of 51.
The Spokane Civic Theatre opens its version of “The Imaginary Invalid” on Friday. This production has excellent Moliere credentials: It is directed by Susan Smith, who also directed the Civic’s first-rate production of “Tartuffe” three years ago.
“The Imaginary Invalid” is not quite as well-known as “Tartuffe,” but it ranks as one of Moliere’s classic satires on the medical profession.
It’s about Argan, a hypochondriac, who wants his daughter to marry a physician so he will have easy access to free medical care. His daughter balks at this plan, understandably, and ends up marrying someone else.
At the end of the play, Argan decides he has learned enough about doctoring to be a physician himself, and he takes a mock oath which gives him “the right to purge and bleed and kill throughout the world.”
It was while delivering this oath that Moliere collapsed on stage.
In this production, Argan will be played by veteran actor Pat Owens. The rest of the cast includes Tami Grady, Susy Wasson-Picard, Jone Campbell Bryan, Peter Hardie, Stuart McKenzie, Jamie Flannery, Austin DePaolo, Kaitlin Morrison, Ron Ragone, Gavin Smith and Philip E. Mitchell.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: On Stage “The Imaginary Invalid,” Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard, runs Friday and Saturday and continues Feb. 26-28, March 1, 5-8, 12-14. Showtimes are 8 p.m. except Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 adults, $9 seniors and $7 students. Call 325-2507 or (800) 446-9576.