Molière – A Liga dos Hipócritas

The play Molière – The League of Hypocrites was on stage from December 27, 2013, to January 12, 2014, at the Teatro Glauce Rocha, in downtown Rio de Janeiro. The script explores the personal and artistic journey of the genius of universal theater, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin de Molière, during the absolutist reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King. The play was directed by Bruce Gomlevsky.

The play begins during Molière’s consecration as the official playwright of the King and presents a perspective on events that were decisive for his downfall and tragic death on stage while performing his play The Imaginary Invalid in 1673.

Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of the work, highlights the Catholic Church’s reaction against the French playwright’s comedies, especially against Tartuffe, as well as the personal tragedy of the playwright, who marries Armande Béjart, unaware that she might be his daughter by Madeleine Béjart, the first actress in his company and his partner.

Throughout the play, the intensification of the Church’s persecution of Molière is portrayed, as well as the subsequent rejection from the King. Molière, now aged and ill, ends his life stripped of all the prestige and recognition that his art had once granted him.