Molière

'Crimp has treated Molière the way Molière had treated Plautus: he has seized on the timeless core of the story and recast it with wit and respect. The result is both a genuinely new version of Molière's play and a homage to it. The writing it cool, sharp and ferociously funny... A thrillingly sophisticated modern version of a classical play.' Sunday TimesAlceste abhors hypocrisy and the well-rehearsed, sycophantic pleasantries of the chattering classes. But having savaged Covington - a theatre critic who thinks he can write plays - Alceste goes on to attack Jennifer, the woman he really loves. What if his determination to tell the truth proves more destructive than their instinct to avoid it? Molière's greatest comedy, Le Misanthrope (1666), with its fierce argument between conformity and non-conformity, is reworked in this blistering contemporary version. Martin Crimp's version of The Misanthrope premiered at the Young Vic Theatre, London, in February 1996 and was revived at the Comedy Theatre, London, in November 2009.

Prudence Steiner's lively prose translations remain close to the original French, giving us the speech of the characters in a slightly compressed and formalized language that echoes the effect created by Moliere's verse. Roger Herzel's thoughtful Introduction discusses Moliere's life; Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and the comic tradition; and the setting, casting, and style of the plays.

Prudence Steiner's lively prose translations remain close to the original French, giving us the speech of the characters in a slightly compressed and formalized language that echoes the effect created by Moliere's verse. Roger Herzel's thoughtful Introduction discusses Moliere's life; Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and the comic tradition; and the setting, casting, and style of the plays.