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Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid"

Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid"

Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" is a farcical play about a
hypochondriac who is so obsessed with his health and money that he ends up
neglecting his family. The story involves several different themes and plots
within one family. A new interpretation of this 17th century play is now being
performed at the Arts Club Theater; it incorporates some new changes and
modernizations in addition to the traditional improvisation. Morris Panych has
definitely succeeded in delivering a new, more comical version of Moliere's
final play.
Moreover, the dominant theme of this play is body versus mind. The play
is about a wealthy, but stingy man who believes that he is constantly sick
(Argan). However, there is an obvious doubt to whether he is really sick or if
he is just imagining his illness. Therefore, the primary theme is Argan's
internal struggle of body vs. mind. This theme is developed throughout the play
into smaller themes such as masculinity versus femininity, greed versus love,
and death versus life.
Two of the major changes from the text to the play are Argan's degree of
illness and his death. In the text, there are very few elaborate descriptions of
Dr. Purgon's treatment. However in the play by Panych, there is no shortage of
enemas and other "bathroom" related scenes. I originally thought this change was
for comical purposes, but after some additional thought I questioned whether
Argan was imagining his illness or if he really was ill. In the text, by not
having too many bathroom scenes, Argan seems to be imagining his illness (thus,
he is the imaginary invalid). In Panych's stage version, Argan shows several
symptoms of being ill; this definitely confuses the original play by Moliere.
One of the original purposes of the play was to criticize, among other things,
the medical profession in Moliere's time. Now, if Argan really was sick, does
that mean that the doctors were correct in their analysis? No, it doesn't. I
believe that Panych intended to show that it was the doctors' treatments that
made Argan ill and eventually killed him.
Another major change from Moliere's version is Beralde's gender and role
in the play and in the family. Beralde is transformed into Argan's sister,
instead of his brother. Panych saw male versus female as a major theme. If you
look at the structure of the original play, all the people who truly love Argan
and mean him well are female, except for Beralde. In fact out of all the
different characters who take advantage of Argan, only one of them is female-
Beline (yet, even she has more traditional male characteristics than some of the
male characters in the play). Therefore it makes more sense for Beralde to be a
female in the play. Panych also changed Beralde's role in the play. In the
original version Beralde is the "man of passionate eloquence, resourceful valet,
good father, master of revels, he is a foil for all the evils [in the play]:
delusion, credulity, tyranny, and fear"(p110). However, in Panych's version,
Toinette is the character who is responsible for putting an end to all the evils.
She is the one who is responsible for exposing Beline as evil and she is the one
who helps convince Argan that not all doctors are trustworthy by disguising
herself as one of them. Therefore, Beralde's role in the play is almost strictly
comedic- she acts as a narrator. She is the first character the audience sees
and hears; and, instead of being the stable brother, she comes out claiming that
she is the crazy sister.
Finally, the last major change is the exclusion of Punchinello
(Toinette's Lover) from the stage version. One of the major themes in this play
is love. Everyone in the play, has someone to love; however, in Panych's
production the Toinette's lover is excluded. There are two possible reasons for
this. First, Panych might have decided that there were already too many plots
and not enough time. Second, the maid is the heroine in the play- in the end she
cures Argan of his selfishness, exposes Beline's greed, and makes it possible
for Angelique to marry the man she loves- and therefore instead of having a love,
her purpose in life is to maintain order in Argan's life. I believe that the
second reason is the more probable one, out of the two. Also, from seeing the
stage version, it could be quite possible that Panych wanted Toinette to be in
love with Argan. This theory may be justified by just looking at the scenes
involving Toinette and Argan. In every scene in which they are together, they
quarrel as if they are husband and wife or brother and sister.
There are endless interpretations of what Panych really wanted to
portray; was it about a man who imagined his illness in his mind and then used
it to get attention from those around him, or was it about a man who was really
ill and needed people to care for him? Panych doesn't make this clear in his
version; therefore I walked out of the play feeling dumbfounded. This feeling
did not overcome me after I finished the text version. It was obvious to me that
in the text, Argan was only imagining his illness and that he was in dire need
of attention. Argan has two groups of people surrounding him; one group (the
doctors, Beline, the Notary) wanted his money and the other group (Angelique,
Toinette, Beralde, Luisson) only wanted his love.
The stage was quite magnificent at first and it definitely contributed
to the mood of the play. It had six doors on the right side and four doors on
the left side; also, the right side was pink, while the left side was light blue.
In addition to the many doors and different colours of the set, there were
several different angles contributing to what was basically an optical illusion.
The angle of the floor and walls made everything which was downstage appear as
though it was bigger than the objects upstage. Argan and his "throne" (which was
actually a big toilet) were placed in the middle of the stage; therefore
allowing all the action to revolve around him. The set was meant to symbolize
the themes of the play. Pink is a colour usually associated with life, love,
health, and femininity. Blue is associated with sickness, death, unhappiness,
and (oddly enough) masculinity. I believe that this was a good idea in theory.
The acting was superb, creative, and hilarious. I found that Panych
selected a cast of actors who all work very well together and who are all very
talented improvisers and comedians. I remember being very impressed by Ellie
Harvie's (Angelique) improvisation skills when she went out to speak to her
"imaginary friends" (the audience). She required some responses from a couple of
audience members, who weren't being too helpful, to explain how and where she
met Cleante. The responses put her in Stanley Park, where she saw Cleante and
immediately being attracted to Cleante's fleshy left ear. This was probably one
of the most successful scenes in the play as judged by audience response. As the
play progressed some of the other actors, such as Ted Cole (Cleante),
incorporated the audience members' responses into his dialogue. He referred to
his meeting with Angelique at Stanley Park in the scene where he and Angelique
are improvising an opera in the second act. All the actors worked very well with
each other and produced many comical moments with the use of pure body language,
facial expressions, and their gorgeous costumes. Toinette's mustache that kept
falling off her face when she was dressed up as a doctor is a good example of a
comedic improvisation, especially when she stepped on it and yelled,
"Cockroach!". Another instance of good interaction between the actors came
between Toinette and Angelique; when Angelique is describing her love for
Cleante in the early part of the first act to Toinette. Instead of letting her
tone of voice be the only indicator of that she is tired of listening to
Angelique's rambling, Leslie Jones (Toinette) walks around the stage looking for
any chore to keep her occupied while having to listen to Angelique. This
provides the audience with several laughs and a better understanding of both of
the characters on stage. The actors' voices and actions were always clear; this
was one of the factors that kept the audience involved and attentive at all
times- not even once, did I not comprehend a word or action. The acting was
definitely the most valuable asset of this play because of the interaction that
occurred between the actors on stage.
In addition to the brilliant stage and acting, the costumes and lighting
further complimented this play. The costumes definitely had a 17th century look,
but with a 20th century twist. Toinette's dress was probably the best used
throughout the play. At one point in the play, she hides several bags by
standing over them and covering them with her dress. Beline's costume was also
quite amusing and it definitely also added to her evil character. Her dress was
very different from the other actresses, which reinforced the fact that she was
the only evil female character in the play.
The lighting was also another contributor to the successful production.
The lights didn't change very often. When they did change it was for a purpose
related to the play- whenever there was a soliloquy, all the other characters
would freeze, and a spotlight would focus in on the character who was speaking.
Also, in the beginning of the play there was a "shadow" act played out from
behind the curtain. For it to work, there was a light behind the actors (who
were behind the curtain) and their actions were reflected onto the curtain by
the light.
Besides the scenes involving fake turds and the scene where Argan shows
us his buttocks, I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience in the theater. At
times it appeared to be a stand-up comedy act, as late-comers were ridiculed by
the actors and interaction with the audience occurred throughout the play. The
play was well directed, acted, and produced and the audience response was
tremendous- I was quite surprised that there wasn't a standing ovation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Moliere; "The Imaginary Invalid"; translated by John Wood in 1959; Published
by Penguin Classics.

2. Knutson, Harold. MOLIERE: An Archetypal Approach. Toronto and Buffalo:
University of Toronto Press, 1976.

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