50 Fun Facts About Molière

Which colour do French actors avoid on stage, a superstition tied to Molière's final costume?

Green is said to be the colour Molière wore for his last performance in 1673, hours before he died. French theatre people still treat it as unlucky.

Where did Molière actually die, hours after collapsing in The Imaginary Invalid?

At his home on the rue de Richelieu, not in the theatre as legend has it: Molière finished the show, was carried back and died a few hours later.

Which honour did Louis XIV grant Molière's first son in a public show of support for the playwright?

Louis XIV stood as his godfather in 1664, a pointed answer to gossip about Molière's marriage. The baby, named Louis, died before his first birthday.

In Molière's The Bourgeois Gentleman, what is Monsieur Jourdain delighted to learn he always speaks?

Prose, his philosophy tutor explains, is simply any speech that is not poetry. The scene gave French a stock phrase for doing something without realising it.

In Molière's Tartuffe, where does Orgon hide to catch the title character wooing his wife?

Under a table, at his wife Elmire's urging, Orgon finally hears the house guest he idolises make advances to her.

Molière's first troupe played in a hall built for jeu de paume, the forerunner of which sport?

Tennis grew out of jeu de paume, and in 17th-century Paris its long indoor courts were often converted into theatres. Molière's young company rented two of them in two years.

What landed the 23-year-old Molière briefly in a Paris prison, years before he found fame?

Unpaid debts sank his first company, which owed rent on its theatre, and Molière, as its leader, was locked in the Châtelet until the bills were covered.

A crater named Molière lies on which world, whose craters honour writers, artists and composers?

Mercury has had a Molière crater since 1976, close to others named for the sculptor Rodin and the poet Abu Nuwas. Mariner 10 first photographed it.

What did Louis XIV himself sometimes do in the comedy-ballets Molière staged for the French court?

Louis XIV danced in them, appearing as an Egyptian in The Forced Marriage in 1664. He gave up performing in court ballets in 1670.

In a novel by Alexandre Dumas, Molière models Monsieur Jourdain on which famous musketeer?

Porthos inspires the playwright in The Vicomte of Bragelonne, a sequel to The Three Musketeers in which Molière appears as a minor character.

Molière was a stage name; under which family surname was the playwright baptised in Paris?

Poquelin was the name of a well-off Paris merchant family, and the young actor probably dropped it to spare his father the shame of a son on the stage.

Molière's father held a post at the royal court practising which trade, later passed on to his son?

Upholsterer to the king was a bought court office that needed only three months' work a year. Molière took over the title in 1641, shortly before choosing the stage instead.

As an actor, Molière was granted a Christian burial only if it was held without pomp at which time?

At night, four days after his death, Molière was carried to the cemetery by torchlight. His widow had asked Louis XIV to step in when the Church refused an ordinary funeral.

Molière's Tartuffe was banned for years because its title character is which kind of villain?

A religious hypocrite who fakes piety to fleece his host, Tartuffe enraged the devout party at court. French and English both now use his name for a sanctimonious fraud.

Which Paris theatre company, founded after Molière died, is still nicknamed the House of Molière?

Comédie-Française dates from 1680, seven years after his death, when Louis XIV merged the actors of Molière's old troupe with their Paris rivals.

The Molières, prizes named after the playwright, are France's answer to which American honours?

Tony Awards are the closest match: the Molières have honoured French theatre since 1987, and were launched by Georges Cravenne, who had already created the César film awards.

Molière's troupe won a royal patron in 'Monsieur', the title of which relative of Louis XIV?

His only brother, Philippe, Duke of Orléans, took the actors under his protection in 1658. The king himself replaced him as their sponsor seven years later.

How does Molière's Dom Juan end for its unrepentant seducer after he invites a statue to dinner?

Dragged down to hell by the stone statue of the Commander, the hero never repents. The play came off after fifteen performances amid protests from the devout, and Molière never staged it again.

Which Molière character, the penny-pinching father in The Miser, gave French a word for a skinflint?

Harpagon loves his cash box more than his children, and a harpagon in French is now any obsessively stingy man. Molière played the part himself.

What did the Archbishop of Paris threaten for anyone who saw, acted in or read Molière's Tartuffe?

Excommunication was the penalty in Archbishop Péréfixe's edict against the comedy. Molière was only allowed to perform its final version in 1669, once his critics had lost influence.

Famous for comedy, Molière himself preferred which genre, the staple of his first troupe?

Tragedy was the genre Molière loved and tried to champion, but audiences warmed to the one-act farces his actors performed afterwards.

After his first company failed, how did Molière spend more than a decade before conquering Paris?

Touring the provinces with a travelling company taught Molière his craft as actor, manager and writer. His first full-length comedy was staged in Lyon.

To which new Paris cemetery were Molière's remains moved to help make it fashionable?

Père Lachaise was thought too far from the city and drew few funerals, so in 1817 its managers reburied Molière and La Fontaine there with great fanfare.

Molière's wife Armande was officially the sister of which actress, his longtime stage partner?

Madeleine Béjart had founded his first company with him in 1643. Molière's enemies spread the rumour that Armande was really her daughter, and even his own.

Which court composer scored Molière's comedy-ballets, then won a royal monopoly on opera?

Lully worked with Molière for a decade and even took comic roles in the shows. The two fell out in 1672, the year the Florentine secured his opera privilege.

Molière's troupe shared a Paris stage with an Italian company led by Tiberio Fiorilli, famous as which stock clown?

Scaramouche was the signature role of Tiberio Fiorilli, whose troupe used the hall on alternate days. Molière asked the Neapolitan to teach him commedia dell'arte technique.

In Molière's The Bourgeois Gentleman, a suitor poses as a prince of which land to win his bride?

Turkey supplies the fake prince, supposedly the Sultan's son, and the comedy ends with a sham ceremony ennobling the dazzled Jourdain. Ottoman fashions were the rage at court in 1670.

Which hero of Molière's The Misanthrope demands total honesty yet loves the flirtatious Célimène?

Alceste rails against polite white lies yet cannot help loving a coquette whose behaviour he loathes. Molière played him at the 1666 premiere.

In Molière's The Learned Ladies, for which offence is the servant Martine sent away by her mistress?

Bad grammar is a worse crime than theft, her pedantic employers declare. The comedy satirises a household where book learning has pushed out common sense.

In Molière's The Miser, where has the old skinflint hidden his cash box full of gold?

In his garden, buried, sits the fortune he frets over throughout the comedy, until a servant digs it up and makes off with it.

Molière played which recurring character, by turns a jealous husband, a valet and a fake doctor?

Sganarelle was written as a vehicle for Molière himself, who kept returning to the name in play after play, from Dom Juan's servant to a bogus medic.

What is the real trade of the reluctant hero in Molière's The Doctor in Spite of Himself?

Woodcutter by trade and a heavy drinker, he is beaten by a rich man's servants until he agrees that he is a brilliant physician. The trick is his wife's revenge.

Molière's Dom Juan retells a legend first dramatised by a playwright from which country?

Spain produced the original, The Trickster of Seville, traditionally credited to Tirso de Molina. Molière turned its sinner into a sceptic who doubts heaven's power to stop him.

At which royal palace was Molière's Tartuffe first performed, at a lavish festival for Louis XIV?

Versailles hosted the original three-act version in May 1664, as part of the court festivities known as the Pleasures of the Enchanted Island.

At which Loire château did Molière's The Bourgeois Gentleman premiere before the court of Louis XIV?

Chambord, the vast hunting lodge built for Francis I, staged the first performance in October 1670. Molière had premiered another comedy-ballet there a year earlier.

Molière's last theatre was housed in which Paris palace, built for Cardinal Richelieu?

Palais-Royal was first called the Palais-Cardinal, until Richelieu left it to the crown. Molière's troupe made its home there in the 1660s, and the royal opera took the hall after he died.

Which finance minister hosted the fête where Molière's The Bores premiered, weeks before his arrest?

Fouquet staged the fête at his new château of Vaux-le-Vicomte in August 1661. Its extravagance fed the ill-will of the young Louis XIV, who had him arrested within three weeks.

Thanks to a gag in Molière's Scapin the Schemer, the French call a messy situation which vessel?

A galley is where a father is told his son is being held for ransom, and he keeps asking what the boy was doing aboard. French speakers still call any ordeal a galère.

Which prop from Molière's final performance is still displayed in the foyer of a Paris theatre?

His armchair, the invalid's seat he was using on stage when he was taken ill, is one of the very few objects to survive from Molière's life.

The everyday French word 'sosie', popularised by Molière's Amphitryon, means which kind of person?

A lookalike is a sosie because Sosie, the servant Molière himself played, comes face to face with his exact double when a god takes on his appearance.

Molière co-wrote the 1671 court spectacle Psyché with which veteran dramatist, the author of Le Cid?

Corneille, then in his sixties, put most of the text into verse because Molière ran out of time before the royal premiere.

Which young dramatist had his first two plays staged by Molière, then defected to a rival troupe?

Racine secretly took his second play, Alexandre le Grand, to the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and later lured away Molière's leading actress. Molière never forgave him.

Molière based The Miser on The Pot of Gold, a comedy by which ancient Roman playwright?

Plautus wrote his Aulularia about an old man jealously guarding a hoard, and Molière borrowed incidents and even scraps of dialogue from it.

Which composer scored Molière's last comedy and wrote the fanfare now used as Eurovision's theme?

Charpentier stepped in for The Imaginary Invalid after Molière broke with his usual court musician. The prelude to his Te Deum has opened Eurovision broadcasts since the 1950s.

Which Soviet-era novelist wrote a play about Molière that was banned after just seven performances?

Bulgakov's drama opened at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1936 and vanished after a hostile official review. His novelised life of the French playwright was not published until 1962.

Which French actor played the young playwright in the 2007 film Molière, opposite Fabrice Luchini?

Romain Duris stars in a largely fictional story set in 1645, in which a rich commoner with social pretensions hires the struggling actor as his secret drama coach.

Which American poet laureate is celebrated for rhyming English translations of Molière's comedies?

Richard Wilbur began with The Misanthrope in 1955 and was still translating Molière more than fifty years later. He served as US poet laureate in 1987.

Which grand name did the young Molière and his partners give their first, short-lived Paris company?

Illustre Théâtre, the Illustrious Theatre, was set up by ten actors in June 1643 and lasted less than two years.

In Molière's The School for Wives, Arnolphe plans to marry young Agnès, who is what to him?

His ward since she was four, Agnès has been raised in a convent so that she will be too ignorant to deceive him. She falls for a young man her own age regardless.

How did Molière respond to the critics who attacked his hit comedy The School for Wives?

He wrote a play mocking them: The Critique of the School for Wives puts the comedy's detractors on stage, airs each of their complaints and knocks it down.