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‘Molière on Stage’ takes the reader onstage, backstage and into the audience of Molière’s plays, analyzing the performance of his works in both his own time and in ours. Written by a professional stage director with over fifty years’ experience directing and translating Molière, this text explores how the playwright strove to create a communal experience of shared laughter, and investigates four key topics relating to this achievement: Molière’s early experiences that lead to his later theater experiences; his central great plays of love and lust; his comedic genius and his passion for the stage; and the final words and performances of his life.
“Goldsby has filled a significant need in Molière studies, and has done so in an accessible and entertaining manner. Fans as well as serious students of Molière now have a new and exciting resource, and actors and directors of the French comic master should reap great benefits as well.” — Michael Schwartz, stagemagazine.org
Robert W. Goldsby is a retired professor and chairman emeritus at the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
Acknowledgments; Chronology of Plays Discussed; List of Illustrations; Act One: The Back Story; I. “ ’Allo, Molière”; II. The First Stages; III. Finding His Light; IV. The Actor Unmasked; Act Two: The Agon; V. Into the Mouth of the Wolf; VI. “Go Saddle Yon Braying Ass!”; VII. Entrances…; VIII. …And Exits; IX. She Loves Me… She Loves Me…; X. …Not!; Act Three: The Comic Relief; XI. Blessèd Laughter; XII. Classic Routines; XIII. Musical Comedy; XIV. The Bones of Farce; Act Four: And Leave ’em Laughin’; XV. The Dancing Skeleton; XVI. The Imaginary Invalid; XVII. Full Circle; Notes; Works Cited and Consulted; Index