One man's cringe quest to become fancy—Molière's 1670 roast still burns.
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme satirizes attempts at social climbing and the bourgeois personality, poking fun both at the vulgar, pretentious middle-class and the vain, snobbish aristocracy. The title is meant as an oxymoron: in Molière's France, a "gentleman" was by definition nobly born, and thus there could be no such thing as a bourgeois gentleman.
Acting
Michel Serrault's Jourdain—desperation wrapped in silk and delusion.
Production
Molière's original music and dance numbers preserved.
Director
Pierre Badel
Michel Serrault
M. Jourdain
Rosy Varte
Mme Jourdain
Daniel Ceccaldi
Dorante
Jean-Pierre Darras
Le maître de ballet
Roger Carel
Le maître de musique
Henri Virlogeux
Le maître de philosophie
Jacques Legras
Le maître-tailleur
Michel Creton
Covielle
Georges Audoubert
Le maître d'armes
Annick Blancheteau
Lucile
René Bouloc
Le premier laquais
Xavier Depraz
Le Grand Turc
Catherine Hiegel
Nicole
Tania Torrens
Dorimène
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Molière wrote this for Louis XIV himself, roasting the very class the king's patronage created.
The 'Turkish ceremony' where Jourdain becomes a Mamamouchi was originally performed with the actual Turkish ambassador present—awkward.
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