CCPOPS - Concord Carlisle Patrons Of Performing Students

The Court of His Majesty Louis XIV presents The Learned Ladies by Moliere
Directed by Benjamin Kendall

What did the battle of the sexes look like in 17th Century France?

Moliere presents us with a household dominated by the mother, Philaminte. She wants to start a school where women study the classics of philosophy and literature and reject their roles as wives and mothers. Chrysale, her meek husband, has had enough. The house is stuffed with books. The servants spend more time reading Plato and perfecting their grammar than they do cooking meals or washing clothes. And Philaminte insists on hosting salons where everyone must fawn over the pretentious recitations of the pompous court poet, Trissotin. Despite Philaminte’s best efforts, her daughter Henriette does not want to join the school. She would rather marry her true love, Clitandre, and fulfill her traditional duties. When her mother insists on marrying off Henriette to the obnoxious poet, her father Chrysale sees his chance to reassert himself and remind everyone of ‘who wears the pants” in the family. Who will Henriette marry? Will Chrysale be able to stand up to his wife? Will Philaminte finally see the poet for what he truly is? Will she realize when she has gone too far with her daughter?

Long considered one of France’s greatest comic playwrights, Moliere has woven a timeless satire of family rivalries and intellectual snobbery. Working as a personal favorite of King Louis XIV himself, Moliere mocked the pretentiousness and hypocrisy he saw all around him in bourgeois Parisian society and the king’s court at Versailles. This provoked both knowing laughter and angry rebukes from his audiences. In fact, the poet Trissotin who serves as the butt of the play’s best jokes is based on an actual French poet who had ridiculed some of Moliere’s work and whose career never quite recovered after the play was performed in 1672. Using a verse translation by renowned American poet Richard Wilbur, The Learned Ladies features a cast of colorful characters, five women and seven men who banter with each other in rich poetic dialogue.

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The Cast

David Guertin — Chrysale, the father
Jane Bird — Philaminte, the mother
Eliza Earle — Armande, daughter
Danielle Judson — Henriette, daughter
Ian Cooper — Ariste, Chrysale’s brother
Nicole Guild — Belise, Chrysale’s sister
Ben Lovy — Clitandre, suitor to Henriette
Russell Peck — Trissotin, obnoxious poet
David Dawson — Vadius, other obnoxious poet
Hannah Rogal — Martine, mouthy kitchen maid — Lepine, servant
Erin Duffy — Julien, valet to Vadius
Mark Nimar — A Notary

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