Press File - Kunstenfestivaldesarts

Monsieur,
We make bold to obtrude ourselves on Your attention
even as You are very busy with Your glorious pursuits
and we are painfully aware of submitting to the country a
poorly balanced matter.
Nothing is greater or more splendid than the Name we
dare to mention at the head of this work and nothing is
baser than the latter's content.
Every one will judge this match quite strange and some
will even say, to hint at its flaws, that it is not unlike
crowning a terracotta statue with diamonds and pearls or
leading a visitor through impressive porticoes and
triumphal arches to reach a hovel.
And yet we dared, Monsieur, dedicate to You this nullity,
this entertainment that pales besides Your magnificence,
but that we contrived for Your amusement.
This paltry work was composed after the writings of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, the 17 th -century
playwright whom You probably know better as Molière.
In the light of Your glorious fatigue and Your victorious accomplishments it is only justice that
those who pretend to strut the stage work either to praise You or to amuse You. We have tried
to do so, in the humble and sincere hope that You will find it in your heart to feel kindly disposed
towards this modest work.
If we are unable to present You with an effort measuring up to Your resplendence, it will not be
owing to any imperfections on the part of the audience, nor to any lack of zeal or study on the
part of the thespians, but only to the mischance that often arises out of the best intentions, and
that doubtless distresses considerably.
Your most humble, most obedient and most faithful servants and subjects,
La Troupe imaginaire
Poquelin
or Les Fourberies de la Troupe imaginaire
created for the entertainment of Monsieur
in the month of May 2003, the 21 st
and given its first public performance in Brussels
at the Théâtre de la Lune
Arranged marriages, doomed love affairs, doctors, imaginary doctors, philosophers, imaginary
philosophers, good manners, imaginary good manners, cuckolds, imaginary cuckolds, adultery,
criticism, hiding and snooping about, asides, footmen and maids, feminists, misunderstandings,
dances, music, masks, floggings, ladies and gentlemen, wenches and women, rakes and
simpletons, apples and pears, misers and coffers, invalids and imaginary invalids, comedians,
one-act pieces and farce, comedy and ballet, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, sonnets
and poems, poetry and prose, letters and intrigue, assault and battery, eating and drinking,
stuffing oneself and stinking, wigs and bald pates, whiskers and beards, trial and error, tables
and chairs, sitting and reclining, enter and exit –
With, among others, Chrysalde, Philaminte, Ariste, Bélise, Armande, Henriette, Martine, L'épine,
Clitandre, Vadius, Julien, Organte, Géronte, Octave, Léandre, Silvestre, Hyacinte, Nérine,
Zerbinette, Lucile, Nicole, Cléonte, Covielle, Dorante, Dorimène, Argante, Béline, Angélique,
Béralde, Louison, Cléante, Thomas, Dom Louis, Elvire, Carlos, Alonse, Violette, Frosine,
Ragotin, Mathurine, Charlotte, Orgon, Elmire, Damis, Marianne, Valère, Dorine, Isabelle,
Léonore, Lisette, Julie, Andrée, Jeannot, Criquet
By Adrien Albert de La Cour-Jardin, Damis Albert Porte-Plume, François Gérard du Carrefour,
Miss Yolande Valentine Bougies-Faiteur, Miss Natalie Marie Brioche, Miss Sara Alphonsine la
Corbusière, Miss Christine Madeleine En-Bédroite.
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