Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, a playwright and actor known by his stage name Molière (1622–1673), is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy and satire. His best-known works include The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, The School for Wives, The Imaginary Invalid, and Dom Juan or The Feast with the Statue. His writing and theatrical performances were strongly influenced by the Italian Commedia dell'arte. In his satires he targeted the false moralism and hypocrisy of the petit-bourgeois society of his time and the Catholic Church. Although he was a favourite of the French court, his satires were often publicly condemned by the Church, and Don Juan was banned from performance. According to a legend, it was in 1673, during a performance of his final play, The Imaginary Invalid, a harsh critique of medicine, that Molière was seized by a coughing fit and a haemorrhage while playing the hypochondriac Argan. He died on stage.
The authors of the new version took Molière’s The Learned Ladies as their point of departure to probe into the meaning of sex nowadays. In short, Molière’s comedy deals with a gap between spirituality (erudition) and love/sex, a 'higher sphere' and the earthly, the vulgar, the obsolete; a gap between a learned lady who lives her life fully, and a female, enslaved by her love, child and husband. Furthermore, the new version extends its subject to investigate negative connotations of sex in our society. It aims to question is the following: the position of sex in everyday life, in the media, and, ultimately, in the bedroom. Why is there such a wide gap between these segments? Why do people feel that they should hide public the force that drives us, a force, which is not destruction, but creation in its purest form, a living artistic gesture which does not need any audience?
Our lives are constantly bombarded by the images of violence, lies, and a general ‘corruption' of human nature. It has become part and parcel of our morning routine to drink coffee while reading a crime section, whereas the act of love making remains a taboo. It is equally absurd that the images of sex and sexual innuendos are repeatedly exploited to create the emergence of our imaginary needs and the selling of desire. Nonetheless, sex, fulfilment and satisfaction are nowhere to be found. Foreplay is allowed and the consequence of sex is represented in the form of idolized children and the portraits of hallowed pregnant women whereas the actual sex and its true core are shrouded in mist of false pseudo moralism.
The new version of The Learned Ladies does not resist these social norms, but plays with them in the spirit of Molière. This is a celebration of sensuality; it is foreplay, a love act and its aftermath. It was Marquis de Sade who said that the human ear is the most sensitive erogenous zone of all, consequently talking is the most powerful stimulant. The stage action is built on this premise. We witness a series of scenes illuminating the play’s subject from various points of view. The characters are detached by their ideas and united in their lust. In the play, the union is reached via a dry word, an over-the-top metaphor and sheer vulgarity. It opens with a subdued whisper and a fleeting touch to climax with a final scream.