The Imaginary
Invalid (French: Le malade imaginaire) is a 1673 three-act comédie-ballet by
the French playwright (and actor) Molière with dance sequences and musical
interludes by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. It was originally choreographed by Pierre
Beauchamp. Le malade imaginaire would turn out to be his last work. Ironically
he collapsed during his fourth performance as Argan on 17 February and died
soon after.
In this
wildly funny farce, about the hypochondriac
Argan, there is a scene near the end of the second act, when Argan
questions his younger daughter Louison, who works as sort of a family spy for
him, knowing that she betrayed and lied to him. When she goes on lying he
chastises her with a martinet, but she stops the spanking by faking - extremely
unconvincingly, her death.
This
version is one of the few french ones, where Louison is actually played by a
young girl.
spanker: Jean Dautremay
spankee: Alexandra Robin
director: Jacques Deschamps
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