Amphitryon By Moliere

THE STORY: Jupiter, king of the Gods, has again become enamored with a mortal woman, Alcmena, wife of the military general, Amphitryon. During the general's absence in the field, Jupiter assumes Amphitryon's form, and is gladly welcomed home and into Alcm

'Amphitryon' is a French-language three-act by Molière which is based on the story of the Greek mythological character Amphitryon as told by Plautus. The plot can be summarized as follows. After his wedding night with beautiful Alcmene, Amphitryon leaves to participate in a war. Jupiter, who is fascinated by Alcmene's beauty, comes to earth under the appearance of Amphitryon, accompanied by Mercury who has taken the appearance of Amphitryon's servant Sosie. Amphitryon is successful in war and sends Sosie back home to report this. Sosie is greeted by his look-alike Mercury, who beats him and convinces him that Mercury is the real Sosie. The real Amphitryon meets Alcmene and is naturally confused and shocked by her account of an amorous night.

Wilbur is at the peak of his form in this stellar translation of an unusual Molière play-populated with Greeks and Greco-Roman gods and flavored with the essences of vaudeville, fan-tasy, high comedy, farce, and even opera. Afterword by Richard Wilbur.

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin is better known to us by his stage name of Molière. He was born in Paris, to a prosperous well-to-do family on 15th January 1622. In 1631, his father purchased from the court of Louis XIII the posts of "valet of the King's chamber and keeper of carpets and upholstery" which Molière assumed in 1641. The benefits included only three months' work per annum for which he was paid 300 livres and also provided a number of lucrative contracts. However in June 1643, at 21, Molière abandoned this for his first love; a career on the stage. He partnered with the actress Madeleine Béjart, to found the Illustre Théâtre at a cost of 630 livres. Unfortunately despite their enthusiasm, effort and ambition the troupe went bankrupt in 1645. Molière and Madeleine now began again and spent the next dozen years touring the provincial circuit. His journey back to the sacred land of Parisian theatres was slow but by 1658 he performed in front of the King at the Louvre. From this point Molière both wrote and acted in a large number of productions that caused both outrage and applause. His many attacks on social conventions, the church, hypocrisy and other areas whilst also writing a large number of comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets are the stuff of legend. 'Tartuffe', 'The Misanthrope', 'The Miser' and 'The School for Wives' are but some of his classics. His death was as dramatic as his life. Molière suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis. One evening he collapsed on stage in a fit of coughing and haemorrhaging while performing in the last play he'd written, in which, ironically, he was playing the hypochondriac Argan, in 'The Imaginary Invalid'. Molière insisted on completing his performance. Afterwards he collapsed again with another, larger haemorrhage and was taken home. Priests were sent for to administer the last rites. Two priests refused to visit. A third arrived too late. On 17th February 1673, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, forever to be known as Molière, was pronounced dead in Paris. He was 51.

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