JUDGING MOLIERE IN ENGLISH

 By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted October 13 2022)

When three different theatre troupes stage the same play, one right after the other on the same day, same venue, you would think the audience would be bored stiff.

But no way. Not when Alliance Francaise had organized a theatre competition as a way of celebrating the 400^th birthday of their country’s finest playwright, the 17^th century dramatist Jean Baptiste Poquelin, popularly known as Moliere, the brilliant satirist whose biting wit and incisive humor sliced deep into French society. Moliere’s comedies are seen as classics and adored by the French despite their generating public outcries over the centuries for their putting a spotlight on the scandalous and socially sensitive.

Alliance Francaise had already celebrated the French equivalent to Britain’s Shakespeare earlier this month by collaborating with Nairobi Performing Arts Studio to successfully stage Moliere’s Mstinji (The Miser).  But then, AF’s Cultural Director, Harsita Waters also called universities to join in theatrical competitions, either to stage Mstinji in French or The Imaginary Invalid in English.

“We thought this would be a great opportunity to get Kenyan students more involved with French literature and language,” Harsita told BDLife. AF has a tradition of running an annual French Drama Festival. “But this is the first time that we have invited schools to stage French plays in English and it’s worked out well,” she added.

Mstinji was staged by four high schools, Highway, Maryhill Girls, Nanyuki, and M-Pesa Foundation Academy with Nanyuki winning Best Production.

The Imaginary Invalid was performed by three universities, KCAU, Technical University of Kenya, and University of Nairobi. They were adjudicated by four jurists, Mbeki Mwalimu, Stuart Nash, Larry Asego, and myself.

What was most striking about this assignment was seeing how radically different one script could be interpreted. The universities were invited to adapt the centuries’ old text using present day language and making it relevant. But they would also be judged by how true their presentation could be to the original essence of the play.

Moliere’s style has often been cited as ‘sophisticated comedy’ which is a euphemism for satire or farce. It also means that not everyone will get the joke.  But it didn’t hurt to try. Unfortunately, on the day of performance there were five universities scheduled to appear, but sadly Strathmore and Kenyatta University didn’t show, most likely because they had both recently staged productions that kept them from Moliere.

In any case, the gist of Imaginary Invalid revolves around the hypochondriac Argan who is obsessed with his maladies and medical bills. But he is also well-to-do and wants to find out who among the women in his life truly love him. Does his daughter Angel truly care? Or should he doubt the devotion of his scheming second wife, Beline?

Technical University of Kenya tended to amplify his obsession with finding a cure for his diseases. It leads to his underlings ripping him off as they find a ‘witch doctor’ who supposedly has the cure.

University of Nairobi gave a more rational interpretation of Argan, the imaginary invalid who is obsessed with disease but also with doctors who prescribe too many expensive pills. To remedy his problem with pricey pills, he decides to marry off his daughter to a doctor so he’d get free medical care.

And KCA University’s Argan was less of a frail invalid than UON’s lead. But he manages to manipulate his apparent invalidism to find out who is truly loyal and loving toward him, and who is a fraud.

Following the three performances, students had the opportunity to hear fair criticism (good and bad) from the judges that was thoroughgoing and sound. One point they all made was the concern for communication. There needs to be less shouting and more projecting of actors’ voices on stage. There was discussion of movement and actor’s intentionality. And there was also the need expressed to pay more attention to issues of costuming, lighting, and set design. Even an obvious point like ‘maintaining the plot’ was raised since the interpretation of a script requires the cast staying true to what’s on the written page.

In any case, the judges held discussions immediately after the performances so that selection of the winners could be announced before students returned home. Unanimously, they voted the Best Actor to be George Githinji, playing Argan from University of Nairobi; Best Actress being Wendy Jebet, playing Argan’s second wife from KCAU; Best Director being Sandra Chadota from KCAU; and finally, the Best Adaptation of the Script and Best Overall Performance was won by University of Nairobi.