Misanthrope by Molière

Alceste is an honourable and outspoken man, in love with Célimene, a bright but slightly vain socialite. Tormented by a trial, he confides in his friend Philinte about his love and how he despises society’s complacency. His complicated love life is then challenged even more when he abruptly witnesses the gossip and small talks going on between Célimene and her court.

Director’s Note  

“Gossip holds civilizations together. … This should be good news for theatre. It means that drama may combine chatter and high rhetoric in a way that makes the profoundest human experience and deepest meanings understandable within the audience’s creative intelligence. That is what theatre is for. … But our gossip is debased. It no longer springs from the people’s inventiveness. It is filtered down to us by television and the big screens, distorted by the media mobs, relentless advertising and compulsive consumerism.” Edward Bond  

In a time of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’, Misanthrope finds unanticipated echoes in the world today. Alceste, the most loyal man in the world, lacks only one virtue: indulgence for other’s behaviours. His search for genuineness against hypocrisy, special interests and treachery calls for a new London production in 2018.

After the public and critical success of The Doctor in Spite of Himself, it’s a logical step for Exchange Theatre to pursue our work on Molière for the 21st century by choosing The Misanthrope. Whilst the previous play was a farce and an invitation to love and laugh, the next one is a deeper truth seeking comedy, written surprisingly at the same time. When The Doctor treated falseness in a satirical way, The Misanthrope confronts the same themes head-on. And when Sganarelle, the doctor was a buffoon, Alceste, the misanthrope is a deep thinker through whom Molière addresses the same issues, reacting to the false critics and the moral injustice.