the misanthrope

Molière is today remembered as one of the chief contributors to King Louis XIV’s flourishing seventeenth century court, and one of the greatest playwrights the world has ever known. However, his status and legacy were by no means certain in his time.

The Misanthrope was written and performed in 1666, just two years before the author’s death.

Till February 6, 2011, the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto presents a modern version of The Misanthrope. Molière's fierce satire about personal and aesthetic integrity is set in today’s celebrity culture wittily adapted by the British playwright Martin Crimp and directed by Richard Rose. Despite the Misanthrope’s biting critique of the film industry, the contemporary Alceste falls in love with a rising starlet. Torn between desire and unflinching morality, the present anti-hero strikes out at hypocrisy in a world shamelessly built on it.

Will love or misanthropy triumph?

A comical intelligent play that you might want to see.