The Royal Comedians

Raquel Duffy and Diego Matamoros in The Royal Comedians. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

As the theatre darkens, four glittering chandeliers are lowered from the high ceiling. A series of doors line two walls on the stage, and a flurry of colour and excitement bursts from them as the theatre troupe at the Palais Royale entertains the king—King Louis XIV, to be exact. This is 18th-century France, a fascinating time period that serves as the backdrop of Soulpepper’s The Royal Comedians, now playing at The Young Centre for the Performing Arts.

History has painted a simple portrait of Jean Baptiste Poquelin de Molière (known simply as Molière) as a comedic playwright. The story that has not been told, however, is the one that this production delves into headfirst, which illustrates Molière (played by Diego Matamoros) as a complex, troubled artist with a dark secret. Both Madeleine Béjart (Raquel Duffy) and Armande Béjart de Molière (Sarah Koehn) are actresses in his theatre troupe, but all is not what it seems. Revealed later in the play is the fact that young Armande has been passed off as Madeleine’s sister, but is actually Molière and Madeleine’s daughter. Most disturbing of all is that Molière has fallen passionately in love with Armande, and she is expecting his child—a dark secret indeed.

The love story aside, Molière is at the height of his fame in The Royal Comedians, as he has just published his controversial play Tartuffe, which contains offensive references to the church. The 18th century was a time of strict religious obedience, and the blasphemous Molière soon finds himself at the mercy of the angry king (played to perfection by Gregory Prest). After offering him some dinner (by forcing him to eat bites off of his own piece of chicken, and forcefully serving him wine) the king tells Molière that the content of Tartuffe is “incautious,” and lets him off with a warning.

Upon returning to his apartments, Molière catches Armande with Zacharie Moirron (Paolo Santalucia) a young actor whom Molière has taken in as part of the theatre troupe. Furious, he kicks Moirron out of the troupe, but not before Moirron threatens to share Molière’s secret with the Archbishop. A hilarious scene between Madeleine Béjart, Molière, and Charles Varlet de la Grange (Michael Simpson) takes place in which Madeleine comes very close to seducing Molière as part of a set-up, leaving at the last moment so the police can arrest the playwright.

In the chilling scenes that follow, both Moirron and Molière are interrogated by Father Barthelemy (Qasim Khan) as well as Marquis de Charron (Michael Hanrahan), Marquis D’Orsini (Stuart Hughes), and Marquis de Lessac (Justin Many Fingers). Molière ultimately is told that if he performs Tartuffe he will be killed. The culminating scenes are mesmerizing as the audience watches and waits to see if an older, sickly Molière will meet his demise while on stage.

The Royal Comedians is a lush spectacle of costumes, beautifully spoken—often rhyming—dialogue, and several swordfights. Although some of the costumes, such as that of King Louis XIV, are not historically accurate, they are still effective. Diego Matamoros plays an intensely vulnerable Molière, The Honest Cobbler (Daniel Williston) lights up the stage, bringing laughs to darker scenes, and Raquel Duffy brilliantly portrays an aging and emotional former actress. The Palais Royale performance at the show’s finale makes the audience feel as though they are witnessing a true 18th-century play.

The Royal Comedians runs until September 21 at The Young Centre for the Performing Arts. Visit Soulpepper.ca for more information and to buy tickets.

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