• French playwright, actor, stage director and dramatic theoretician Moliere (1622-1675), born as Jean Baptiste Poquelin, at the age of 21 turned his back to what promised to be a respectable, affluent upper middle-class existence, and ventured into the theater. It was a complete disaster. His troupe was bankrupt within a year. Jean Baptiste had to spend a short time in a debtor's prison.
  Undaunted, Jean Baptiste takes on the pseudonym Molière and leaves Paris with the troupe. For the next twelve years he will be honing his acting and writing skills, traveling from one French province to another.
  In 1658 Molière and his troupe triumphantly return to Paris and perform before the King Louis XIV. Later on, the royal patronage served Molière well, for several powerful groups (with the clergy in the forefront) were ready on more than one occasion to impose silence on the playwright who so devastatingly mocked and satirized the contemporary society.
  Molière’s most prolific period falls between 1659, when he wrote The Pretentious Young Ladies, and 1673, when The Imaginary Invalid was completed. During those fourteen years, he brought out at least one major dramatic achievement every year.
  On February 17, 1675, Moliere collapsed while playing the lead role in his The Imaginary Invalid. He managed to finish the show, but died several hours later at his home.
  Moliere’s life presents a curious dichotomy. He rubbed shoulders with the royalty - yet his widow had to plead to have him buried in a proper cemetery, because actors were deemed unworthy of resting in sacred grounds. His patron, Louis XIV, did grant Moliere that last dignity. The greatest French comic playwright was buried at night, in the part of the graveyard reserved for infants. In 1817, his remains were transferred to Le Père Lachaise Cemetery.

• Fast Facts:

  1. Born January 15, 1622 in Paris
  2. Birth Name: Jean Baptise Poquelin
  3. Began acting career in 1643
  4. Began writing short farces about 1645
  5. Wrote 12 major plays
  6. Also wrote six farces and several pastorals and comedy-ballets
  7. Considered the creator of modern French comedy
  8. Died on February 17, 1675 in Paris
  9. Quotation: "He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak."

• Related Mahalo Pages

  The Misanthrope | The Pretentious Young Ladies | Tartuffe | The School for Wives | The Imaginary Invalid | Voltaire | Cyrano de Bergerac

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