The Hypochondriac
Play Description
First produced in 1673 and Molière's final play, THE HYPOCHONDRIAC is a scathingly funny lampoon on both hypochondria and the “quack” medical profession. Argan is a perfectly healthy, wealthy gentleman, convinced that he is seriously ill. So obsessed is he with medicinal tinkerings and tonics that he is blind to the goings on in his own household. However, his most efficacious cure will not appear in a bottle or a bedpan but in his sharp-tongued servant, who has a cunning plan to reveal the truth and open her master's eyes.
Production Info
Cast: 12 total (4 female, 8 male)Full Length Drama (about 160 minutes)
Single Set
Period Costumes
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Author(s)
MolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622 – 1673), known as Molière, was a French dramatist, director, and actor, and one of the world's greatest masters of comic satire. Of his nearly 40 plays, his most famous are TARTUFFE, THE MISER, THE LEARNED LADIES, THE MISANTHROPE, and THE IMAGINARY INVALID.
Martin SorrellMartin Sorrell is Professor of French Poetry and Literary Translation at the University of Exeter. He has published many books and articles in his field and is a prize-winning translator of French poetry. He has published a number of translations of Molière plays for Nick Hern Books.
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypub.com
Related Plays
$11.95–$15.00 Play Description
Love is funny. Love is trickery. Love is … smelly? It's certainly a merry-go-round of misplaced desires and hidden agendas in Constance Congdon's fresh and hilarious new take on Molière's skewering of a health-care crisis from an entirely different century. To quell his growing pile of medical bills, Monsieur Argan, a chronic hypochondriac, will go to any length to marry his daughter off to a doctor. Of course, his daughter has other ideas. A narcotic cocktail of romantic triangles, double entendres, and mistaken identities ensues, promising to leave you gasping, giggling, and possibly … in stitches.
Production Info
Cast: 9 total (3 female, 6 male)Full Length Comedy (about 110 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00 Play Description
The classic 1851 farce. Fadinard is on the way to his wedding when his horse eats a straw hat hanging on a bush. The owner of the hat is a former girlfriend who insists that Fadinard buys her a new hat instantly. He sets off to find a replacement hat, followed by his fiancée and all their guests. The play develops into a delirious chase as Fadinard hunts the hat and the guests hunt Fadinard and comic misunderstandings litter every scene.
Production Info
Cast: 18 total (6 female, 12 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95 Play Description
Set during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, the play takes place from March 24 to April 4, 1794, when Maximilien Robespierre was in charge of the Committee of Public Safety that, along with the Revolutionary Tribunal, condemned people to the guillotine. Guillotine victims ranged from those who were seen as too radical to those who were viewed as royalist sympathizers and even simply moderates like Danton.
Production Info
Cast: 26 total (8 female, 18 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$11.95 Play Description
With a calloused and lustful heart, Don Juan indulges his sexual appetites with boundless enthusiasm. Heedless of warnings both earthly and otherwise, history's most notorious romantic devil rushes headlong toward retribution in Molière's sparkling comedy.
Production Info
Cast: 11 total (3 female, 8 male)Full Length Comedy (about 100 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
Play Description
A husband and wife stay together by force of habit, their relationship based on nothing solid. The wife’s aggression and bitterness and the husband’s selfishness and irresponsibility are revealed, and their ferocious animosity unleashes such powerful comedy that it obscures the underlying darkness.
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (2 female, 2 male)Short Comedy (about 60 minutes)
Single Set
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00 Play Description
A masterpiece by one of the greatest writers of the Spanish Golden Age. When the people of the town of Fuente Ovejuna revolt against their tyrannical overlord and murder him, the authorities attempt to find out who is responsible, leading to one of the most memorable acts of resistance in world drama.
Production Info
Cast: 16 total (4 female, 12 male, flexible casting up to 8 women and 20 men)Full Length Drama (about 180 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$15.00 Play Description
Why, having become Queen in childhood, would Christina of Sweden give up the throne? Confused about her sexual identity and religious beliefs, and thwarted in love, she decides to abdicate, convert to Catholicism, and throw herself, for life, on the hospitality of the Vatican. Once there, this proud but troubled woman is stunned to discover that, before she can be received by the Pope, she must submit to intense questioning by Cardinal Azzolino. At first she sees him as an adversary. But then, against all rules and expectations, Christina finds herself falling in love with her inquisitor. A probing exploration of the nature of woman, whether queen or commoner, is the subject of this highly original play.
Production Info
Cast: 10 total (4 female, 6 male)Full Length Drama (about 140 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00 Play Description
This classic and hilarious French farce commences when a customs official barges into newlyweds Robert and Paulette's train compartment at a most inopportune moment on their wedding night, rendering the poor fellow impotent. His parents-in-law demand that he consummate the marriage or it will be annulled, and Paulette will marry La Baule instead. Enter Mademoiselle Zeze, a courtesan, and let the games begin.
Production Info
Cast: 12 total (5 female, 7 male)Full Length Comedy (about 130 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95 Play Description
Pontagnac, an inveterate womanizer, follows Lucienne to her house and makes advances. When her husband appears, who is none other than Vatelin, one of Pontagnac’s friends, the kerfuffle is soon settled between them as Vatelin, knowing Pontagnac, forgives him. But an unforeseen event sows discord: Liesl, who had been Vatelin’s mistress in Vienna, arrives at his house. Pontagnac takes this opportunity to tell Lucienne that her husband is cheating on her and gives her proof that Vatelin has a date in a hotel room with Liesl. Meanwhile, earnest Redillon, Lucienne’s friend, also declares his love for her. What is Lucienne to do? From there Feydeau’s intricate plot catches you up in a whirlwind of amorous and vengeful hilarity that ends with — you may conclude — everyone getting just what they deserve.
Production Info
Cast: 17 total (6 female, 11 male, doubling possible, female and male bit parts)Full Length Comedy (about 180 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00 Play Description
Molière's satire of intellectual snobbery focuses on the women folk of Chrysale's household, who look on all but intellectual pursuits as worthless and spurn love in favour of learning. The heroine, Chrysale's daughter Henriette, wants to marry Clitandre, but her mother wishes her to marry the poet Trissotin, who is worming his way into the household in order to marry Henriette for her family's fortune. When his avaricious plot is discovered, he is sent away in disgrace, leaving Henriette to marry Clitandre as she wishes.
Production Info
Cast: 13 total (5 female, 8 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00 Play Description
The first celebrity chef, Auguste Escoffier is revealed in all his culinary glory in this delightful one-man show.
Production Info
Cast: 1 total (1 male)Full Length Drama (about 75 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95 Play Description
“ANTONY is not a melodrama, ANTONY is not a tragedy, ANTONY is not a stage play. ANTONY is an acting-out of love, jealousy and anger in five acts.” —Alexandre Dumas (père)
Production Info
Cast: 14 total (6 female, 9 male, extras)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes