While Shakespeare in the Park has been drawing crowds to Central Park for over 60 years, a newer project is bringing a different famed European playwright to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Molière in the Park, founded in 2019, aims to bring free productions of the French master’s work to denizens of Park Slope, Flatbush, and other surrounding neighborhoods, and this month they will be offering one of Molière’s most famous comedies, The Imaginary Invalid.
The play, titled Le Malade Imaginaire in French, originally premiered in 1673, during the reign of Louis XIV, who was a notable patron of Molière’s. As the French bourgeoisie reached its apex, Moliere’s skewering of them through the medium of satire made him widely popular, because both the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie themselves appreciated this self-deprecating style of humor. In this particular play, he takes aim at a stubborn, self-indulgent hypochondriac named Argan (played by Tony and Olivier Award nominee Sahr Ngaujah), who is more than willing to let various quack doctors bleed him (and his wallet) dry in exchange for the promise of an ersatz cure.
Molière Comes to Prospect Park
At the time, The Imaginary Invalid was intended as a critique of the pseudoscience embedded in the medical profession of 17th century France. In this modern retelling it can be interpreted in a variety of ways, the broadest being that you should be skeptical of any person or platform selling you an easy fix for a complex problem, and promising that only they have the answers to cure what ails you. While this is stated quite literally by one of the characters, Argan’s sister Béralde, its present-day applications are left quite open-ended, and it is up to viewers to approach this idea through the lens of their own personal or political experiences. On the medical front, we can resonate with Argan as he complains about being over-charged for various procedures, and perhaps we can see his doctors prescribing him hydroxychloroquine for his spleen, or telling him to avoid seed oils lest they inflame his liver with yellow bile. But the list of ailments we face today far surpasses an imbalance of the four temperaments, and the moral of this story could be applied far and wide to our current landscape.
All this aside, The Imaginary Invalid is a charming romp, in a new translation from Molière in the Park’s Founding Artistic Director Lucie Tiberghien. Its traditional ballet interludes are replaced by modern choreography courtesy of Cal Hunt, whose NY baseball cap and subway dancer-style moves cement the performance firmly in Brooklyn, right now. Music is provided by composer and cellist Jonathan Moore, who is accompanied by an orchestra of birdsong as sun sets on the park. The cast includes Mary Bacon as Argan’s scheming wife, Béline; Rory Furey-King as his clever and sassy maid, Toinette; Shayvawn Webster as his doting daughter, Angélique; Doron JéPaul as Angélique’s lover interest, Cléante; Donté Bonner as various doctors and conmen; and Naomi Lorrain in two scene-stealing roles as Angélique’s suitor, Thomas, and Argan’s sister, Béralde, both of which are gender-flipped from the original play.
The Imaginary Invalid has a runtime of approximately one hour and 45 minutes, with no intermission. It will run through Sunday, May 25th at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside in Prospect Park.
Catherine Rickman is a writer, professional Francophile, and host of the Expat Horror Stories podcast. She is currently somewhere in Brooklyn with a fork in one hand and a pen in the other, and you can follow her adventures on Instagram @catrickman.
