In the same way that Shakespeare and Cervantes represent the most complete expression of English and Spanish, to say French is to say “the language of Molière ”, the man who perfected the art of comic comedy in that language to have a universal reach. It is true, as Harold Bloom said, that there is no shortage of other voices to compete for such a status, such as his contemporary Racine -the other great French author of the 17th century- but there are few who reached the universality of Molière , whose works have the privilege of having been translated into multiple languages ​​and represented throughout the planet. Through some thirty pieces in verse and prose where satire and critical observation of the customs of his time shine, he portrayed with impeccable precision a series of perennial human archetypes.

This January 15, the author of The Miser reaches the round number of 400 years as the anniversary of his birth (although it is estimated that he would have been born one or two days earlier, things of the time). His baptismal certificate, recently found in 1820, established this date that the world celebrates. Of course, in France, the commemoration is a national issue, with theatrical performances, conferences, and events that will extend throughout 2022. It will also be the same in other European countries and in the United States, although with a discreet profile given the health precautions before the pandemic. The Molière season of the French Comedy, founded by Louis XIV seven years after the comedian's death from what had been his company, starts this Saturday with a reconstruction of the original representation of Tartuffe or the impostor , which was only performed once before suffering heavy censorship at the time.

The degree of interest and recognition for the life and work of Molière was demonstrated in recent weeks with the national campaign, endorsed by prominent cultural and political firms, for him to enter the Pantheon in Paris, where several of the men rest. illustrious of the nation. The petition aroused an old controversy in the face of the April presidential elections: while some candidates added their voice, President Emmanuel Macron assured that he is not willing to ignore the rule that prevents personalities born before the Century of Las from entering the temple. lights, the XVIII, with which the construction of the building is associated.

At the time of his death, the playwright and actor suffered a similar fate. He was denied a religious burial and he could only be buried without funerals, thanks to the intervention of Louis XIV . The role of comedian was not well seen at that time by high society and the Church, as was the case with heretics, thieves and prostitutes. However, Molière had the esteem of Louis XIV , who enjoyed his plays and shared the conception of comedy as a good way to correct the customs of the people. In addition, like the rest of the nobility, he encouraged satires because they were ruthless with the new rich who wanted to imitate the aristocrats. Even when he performed Tartuffe , a ruthless analysis of the hypocrisy characteristic of false devouts that had to be vetoed under pressure from the clerics, the Sun King did not withdraw his support from him.

Moliere came from a bourgeois family with ties to the court and although he decided to give up the position of upholsterer (a job he had learned from his father, who provided his services to the king), to dedicate himself to the theater, he never really stopped belonging to the bourgeoisie. parisian Probably among the clientele that visited the family business, close to the bustling market of Les Halles, he began to observe the human characters that he would represent in his works. But his true apprenticeship as a comedian took place in the provinces where he wandered with his theater company for thirteen years, after the resounding failure of a first company created with his beloved Madeleine Béjart , L'Illustre Théâtre. Thus they had to leave Paris due to the multiple debts contracted with their creditors.

It is curious that despite the fame he would gain upon his return to the capital, his manuscripts, correspondence and diaries have not been preserved. Perhaps they were destroyed or simply lost by his heirs. Nor is his first biographer, Grimarest , who published in 1705 a Vie de Molière riddled with inaccuracies that fueled the legend surrounding Jean-Baptiste Poquelin , the writer's real name, very helpful. All that is known about Moliere today is due to the work of scholars, librarians, and historians who patiently searched for traces of him in all the archives of Paris and the provinces. Just a receipt with his handwriting and hundreds of other bureaucratic papers survive as material evidence that accounts for the milestones of his life. Although of course the essential of the author is maintained: his theatrical pieces.

Sainte-Beuve , the influential literary critic of the 19th century who was convinced that the work of every author is a reflection of his life (for which he was canceled by Proust ), gave perhaps one of the most forceful appraisals: “Loving Molière is cured forever, not only of base and infamous hypocrisy, but of fanaticism, intolerance and harshness, of what leads to anathematizing and cursing (...) it is to be sure not to fall into admiration satisfied and unlimited by a humanity that idolizes itself and forgets what material it is made of and that, whatever it does, it will always be of a fragile nature. That doesn't mean one should become Alceste , his character from The Misanthrope who despised the human condition. For Molière , it was important to be able to laugh at our flaws and vices and accept them without pretending to seem different or trying to be.

Willy Landin , director and set designer who put together a memorable staging of The Wise Women at the San Martín Theater more than a decade ago, which was followed by an adaptation of El bourgeois gentleman with Enrique Pinti in the role of the upstart Monsieur Jourdain , points out the archetypal names that give title to almost all of Molière 's comedies: “They do not bear the name of a character, as is usual in the tragic genre, but rather communicate states of stupidity or human ridiculousness that we all recognize. Although that same subject if one sits down and reflects it becomes a tragedy, "he tells Infobae Cultura .

@AnitaNnekaJones @IanWright0 @tiktok_uk Ian do you have a filter on your camera? If not please let a knackered look… https://t.co/a5Mq3WVUXs

— Mark Durrant Tue Jun 15 17:49:08 +0000 2021

The French playwright, who studied the Latin classics at the prestigious Clermont College with the Jesuits, staged some tragedies but without much luck. His thing was comedy, a genre that at that time – as in any era – was close to the natural speech of the people, exempt from the restrictions imposed by the high style of French classicism at that time.

When he was called to adapt Las mujeres wiseas , Landin found that the available translations were not theatrical, not even that of Mujica Láinez , which is why he took the trouble to translate his version. “There is a whole game of language with origins in traditional Italian comedy that has to do with an understatement and a double meaning that made Moliere alive. It wasn't just grace, but also acidity and social criticism. It is very difficult when one translates these geniuses that phrases that do not make sense do not remain in the bronze. And in a comedy, if the auctions don't have the necessary time and the clock construction that characterizes Molière , they don't work”, explains the stage director who graduated from Colón. “What is wonderful are the situations that he describes and that continue to happen, but you have to be able to recreate them in such a way that they resonate with the contemporaneity they have,” he adds.

This distance between the text and the theatrical game that Molière staged was also taken into account by Corina Fiorillo when she adapted The Miser , a play that she presented in 2017 at the Teatro Regio. "Today one speaks of classics and it seems that one had to dress up and dress very elegantly, as if it were exclusively for a cultured sector that understands, when in fact its roots come from popular theater," the director tells Infobae Culture . “The most important thing when adapting it was to think about how a Molière would speak today, to recreate the actions and the type of humor, because later its dramatic structure makes the work much easier”, she recalls of that experience.

For Fiorillo they are popular texts that would shine in a lot of formats if they were brought to the stage more often. “They have absolutely all the steps of comedy, you see any work by Molière and you recognize any of the typical doorway tangle comedies of an era of commercial theater”, he describes, adding: “Social criticism through the popular festival and the humour, his reflection and his acidity, I think they are absolutely valid. Especially in The Miser , who is the person who is attached to money beyond any other value. What someone is capable of doing to protect his property as if it were a son and what that triggers in his environment is forceful today. The banquet scene also shows what we can achieve by pretending a situation, which is the summary and synthesis of our Instagram, for example”.

There will not be this year in Argentina, at least in principle, a tribute to Moliere in public theaters. The last staging was performed in their own language at the San Martín, as part of the 2019 international program. The French director Michel Didym brought his successful show The Imaginary Sick , a piece that today would look even fresher in the face of alarms that ignites the uncertainty of the pandemic. “It is not medicine that attacks but the ridiculousness of medicine, that is, medicine that takes itself too seriously, that does not pay too much attention to man, that sells itself to such violent treatment that people He dies not from the disease but from the treatment,” Didym replied to Infobae in an interview.

“It is a play in which he concentrated all the savoir faire of a life: he put on an Italian comedy, but also a forced marriage, that is, the obligation for his daughter to marry a doctor because she is afraid of death, there is also a story of collection of heritage, that is, bourgeois comedy, and of course philosophy. We are in the high thought of Molière and of the destiny of man in the face of life, in the face of death”, added the director, who also highlighted the patient's dialogue with his brother, in which Molière borrows certain ideas from Montaigne and other philosophers who have influenced the French spirit.

The imaginary patient was the final point of Molière , who vanished in the fourth act while playing Argán, as a result of advanced tuberculosis and the exhaustion that staging this work meant for him and solving all the problems he had around his representation. All the themes of his main works were gathered there. It is not true, however, that he died on stage, but only a few days later. He had time to prepare his epitaph: “Here lies Molière , the king of actors. Right now he plays dead, and he really does it well”.

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