MOLIERE
or THE LEAGUE OF HYPOCRITES

The Guardian ☆☆☆☆

WhatsOnStage ☆☆☆☆

London Theatre Reviews ☆☆☆☆

by Mikhail Bulgakov in the world premiere of a translation by Michael Glenny
Directed by Blanche McIntyre.
Designed by Alex Marker.
Lighting by Jon Winn.
Sound by Gemma Harrison.
Costume by Penn O'Gara. 
Music by Plaster of Paris

Cast:
Justin Avoth
Paul Brendan
Tom Davey
Mark Desebrock
Emma Jerrold
Antonia Kinlay
Elizabeth Moynihan
Gyuri Sarossy
Kett Turton
Ben Warwick

The first London revival in 25 years and the world premiere of a new translation of the modern classic

Finborough Theatre London

The first London revival in 25 years of the modern classic Bulgakov's Molière or The League of Hypocrites, directed by Blanche McIntyre - the inaugural winner of the Leverhulme Bursary for Emerging Theatre Directors. The Leverhulme Bursary is an exciting new award, partnering the National Theatre Studio with the Finborough Theatre, supporting a six month attachment at the internationally acclaimed National Theatre Studio, and a production at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre.

Jean-Baptiste Molière is on top of the world - at the centre of Louis XIV's court, author of countless popular hits, and in love with a woman half his age. But what the audiences see as sparkling satire, the authorities see as dangerous and subversive. As soon as he takes a wrong step, his fall from grace is assured.

Assailed by rumours and tracked by the secret police, Molière's private life starts to fall apart. In this world of whispers and distortions, everyone is vulnerable. But not everyone has a theatre to run.

Inspired by real-life events and written under the shadow of Stalin, Molière is about a man's fight to keep his integrity under a repressive regime.

Playwright and novelist Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) was the most original writer of the Stalinist era, turning out outspoken, satirical works, even as his contemporaries were arrested and killed. He is probably best known for The Master And Margarita, published 26 years after his death and now the favourite book of four out of five Russians. He also wrote the plays The White Guard (which Stalin saw seventeen times) and Black Snow, a savage spoof of Stanislavsky and his Method which was inspired by Bulgakov's difficulties in getting Molière staged. Productions of Bulgakov's work in the UK have included Black Snow and Flight at the National Theatre, The Master and Margarita at Chichester Festival Theatre, and The White Guard for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Molière was last seen in London in 1983, at the Barbican's Pit Theatre, in a Royal Shakespeare Company production starring Antony Sher.

Translator Michael Glenny (1927-1990) was one of the most prolific and highly respected translators of Russian works in the 20th century. He was professor of Russian studies at the Universities of Birmingham, Southern Illinois and Bristol. Glenny translated ten works by Bulgakov, including Black Snow, The White Guard and The Master and Margarita. His other translations include works by Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov, Eisenstein, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Gorky and the first volume of Boris Yeltsin's memoirs.