The Royal Comedians (Molière) Playbill

the royal comedians (MOLIÈRE) mikhail bulgakov.

TRANSLATED BY CARL & ELLENDEA PROFFER

artist note: Raquel Duffy As an actor in a classical theatre company, it’s a treat and a surprise not to have heard of the play you’ll be working on. After reading it through a few times, I still had a lot of questions about the play. Once rehearsals began László shed light on the piece for us, the troupe of players. He shared his vast knowledge of the world of the play; the oppressive political climate during Bulgakov’s time mirrored with the religious pressure experienced by Molière.

We Canadians take our freedom of expression for granted. It’s hard to imagine being condemned for our art. The censorship experienced by Bulgakov and Molière is something most artists on this continent will never have to face. We are so fortunate.

Imagine this: a play filled with religion, politics, love lost and gained, birth, death, huge success and great failure, intrigue, nightmare, violence, comedy, sword fighting AND singing and dancing! Add Soulpepper stalwarts Stuart Hughes, Michael Hanrahan, Michael Simpson and William Webster. Add to that our newly graduated amazing Academy along with two more fantastic just-out-of-school actors, and my dear Academy buddy and fellow Maritimer Gregory Prest. And then, Diego; what an absolute joy to work and play with him!

And with László at the helm, a girl couldn’t ask for more. All of them bringing oodles of energy into the rehearsal room. The commitment of this group is thrilling and inspires me to work harder and give more each day.

Like Molière’s troupe, we form our own company of Royal Comedians, performing in hopes of pleasing you, our audience… our “king”.

A votre service,

Raquel Duffy, Madeleine Béjart in The Royal Comedians

a message from the artistic director Raquel Duffy joined the Soulpepper Academy in 2009 bringing with her a heaping helping of talent, goodness and sunny Maritimer spirit. A few short years later, it is hard to imagine this place without her.

Albert Schultz, Artistic Director

illustration: brian Rea

the Royal comedians (MOLIÈRE) mikhail bulgakov.

russia 1936

TRANSLATED BY CARL & ELLENDEA PROFFER

production László Marton director

Ashlyn Ireland assistant stage manager

Lorenzo Savoini set designer

Dianne Woodrow rehearsal stage manager

Victoria Wallace Costume designer Kevin Lamotte lighting designer Richard Feren Sound designer Darragh Parsons production stage manager

Carolyn Mykytyshyn assistant rehearsal stage manager

Ravi Jain Adam Paolozza Movement Creators Kelly McEvenue Alexander Coach Andrew Smith Assistant lighting designer

Kate Duncan apprentices stage manager Simon Fon Fight director

cast Akosua Amo-Adem Mariette Rivale Raquel Duffy Madeleine BÉjart Justin Many Fingers marquis de Lessac, Charlatan, Brother Force Rong Fu ensemble Michael Hanrahan marquis de Charron Stuart Hughes marquis d’Orsini

Qasim Khan father BarthÈlemy, Philbert du croisy, Brother Fidelity Sarah Koehn Armande BÉjart de MoliÈre Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster RenÉe Diego Matamoros jean baptiste poquelin de MoliÈre Hannah Miller an Unknown Woman

Harveen Sandhu ensemble Paolo Santalucia Zacharie moirron Michael Simpson Charles Varlet de La Grange William Webster jean-jacques Bouton Daniel Williston the honest Cobbler

Gregory Prest Louis XIV

production sponsor

There will be one 20 - minute intermission. Approximate running time 2 hours and 30 minutes.

background notes In Russia today, Mikhail Bulgakov is one of the most revered writers of his era: the tumultuous period between the two World Wars. This ultra-individualistic author came of age in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. As a doctor during the Russian Civil War, he saw the patricians and the proletariat up close. He wrote dazzling plays and macabre satirical fables that were (when they were permitted to be seen and read) adored by the public and loathed, feared and suppressed by the cultural authorities, who accused him of “turning Soviet reality into a joke.”

In the time of Josef Stalin that was no small crime. Yet Stalin had a soft spot for the writer and often protected him. He once said that a writer of Bulgakov’s quality was above words like “left” and “right”. Stalin saved him from prison, but his works were still banned.

And Bulgakov could be his own worst enemy. He was notorious for speaking and dressing in an old-fashioned “gentlemanly” style (like a “Tsarist”, his enemies said).

Bulgakov loved to confuse, to challenge expectations. His work is characterized by a skillful blending of fantastic and realistic elements, grotesque situations, and a concern with ethical issues. His writing is hilarious; he favoured a particularly Russian style of satire that requires dead serious delivery and a completely straight face. For Bulgakov everything depended on tone: at rehearsals he was well-known for acting out every role to better convey the nuances he wanted in each line of the play. Ironic, wickedly accurate observation was his forte and he paid a great price for his stubborn integrity.

Not unlike Molière in The Royal Comedians and the similarities are of course no accident.

Bulgakov had already written a biography of Molière and when he decided to write about artistic freedom and censorship (and the victimization of the talented by the mediocre), he placed his blistering criticisms safely in the past, and in another country, at the court of Louis XIV. When we meet Molière, he's at the peak of his fame and paradoxically at his most vulnerable. He's accused of heresy by the Church because he has dared to criticize them in his new play, Tartuffe. The churchmen cannot attack him outright because Molière, like Bulgakov, has the protection of the most powerful man in the land. But Molière's problems are personal as well as political. He's an older man now, and passionately in love with his young wife, who just happens to be the daughter of his old lover. An intimate life like that is bound to be exploited by unscrupulous men like the Archbishop of Paris…

Molière is such a towering figure today it's easy to forget how much he struggled in his own time, how daring he was to write those bright, classic comedies. He and Bulgakov both had a unique artistic vision and each had the guts and determination to realize it. Both men knew that even in the darkest times laugher is the most potent weapon of all.

Biography Born in Kiev on May 2, 1891, Mikhail Afanas'evich Bulgakov was raised in a large family where literature, theatre and music were a valued part of everyday life. From an early age he was drawn to storytelling and theatre, often spinning tales for his classmates and writing comedies for his brothers and sisters to perform. Despite his interest in the arts, Bulgakov graduated from Kiev University with a degree in medicine, serving as an army physician during the Russian Civil War. After contracting (and barely surviving) typhus, Bulgakov abandoned his medical practice and began to pursue a career as a writer. Bulgakov was writing during a time when old social orders and traditional values were being questioned, and this context informs a great deal of his work. Despite the favour and protection of Stalin, many of Bulgakov’s works were banned or censored. His most well-known plays were written during his time at the Moscow Art Theatre, such as The Days of the Turbins (1926), but his most famous work is a novel that wouldn’t be published until 26 years after his death, The Master and Margarita (1966). After battling the same kidney disease that took the life of his father, Bulgakov died on March 10, 1940.

Background Notes by Associate Artist Paula Wing.

soulpepper production Jacqueline Robertson-Cull

Kathleen Johnston

Geoff Hughes

Barbara Nowakowski

cutter

1st hand

Janet Pym Natalie Swierz

Jennifer Hambleton Daniela Mazic

Paul Boddum Stephanie Milic

dressers

scenic artists

painters

Tracy Taylor

Greg Chambers

Erica Connor

props buyer

props builder

mask builder

wardrobe coordinator

wig maker & stylist

Stefan Dean Lisa Farinaccio Kathleen Johnston sewers

Mike Keays Radoslaw Smaczny carpenters

soulpepper thanks: Jeff Churchill, Conor Moore.

Soulpepper Theatre Company is an active member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (pact), the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (tapa) and Theatre Ontario, and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. Scenic Artists and Set Decorators employed by Soulpepper Theatre Company are represented by Local 828 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

Soulpepper thanks

for their generous support of The Royal Comedians

YOUNG CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS DISTILLERY HISTORIC DISTRICT