Der eingebildet Kranke

It's astonishing that this play has so far been performed in Germany under the title "The Imaginary Invalid." That would imply that the sick person is a haughty, arrogant individual. The Schlosspark Theater will perform this Molière under the title "The Imaginary Invalid" – because it clearly illustrates what Molière meant:
The sick person is sick because he imagines he is sick. For doctors and pharmacists, the "sick person," Monsieur Argan, is a true gold mine. Argan's faith in the medical art goes so far that he wants to marry his daughter off to a doctor, even though she has already given her heart to someone else.

The maid Toinette – the second leading role – endowed with mother wit and a loose tongue, disguised as an ancient faith healer, attempts to free Argan from his obsession with illness.

Molière fans will look forward to two seemingly indestructible clowns, namely the doctors Diafoirus, who examine Argan, with both luminaries coming to very different conclusions.

When a scheming stepmother, who is only interested in a quick inheritance, and a shady notary also attack the "sick" man, Molière gives his farce what the tools of comedy were then and always will be: laughing, ridiculing, laughing at, taking it, dishing out, and "poking fun."


(PLAY IN GERMAN)