The Misanthrope

by Martin Crimp, Molière

Alceste abhors hypocrisy and the well-rehearsed, sycophantic pleasantries of the chattering classes. But having savaged Covington - a theatre critic who thinks he can write plays - Alceste goes on to attack Jennifer, the woman he really loves. What if his determination to tell the truth proves more destructive than their instinct to avoid it?
Moliere's greatest comedy, Le Misanthrope (1666), with its fierce argument between conformity and non-conformity, is reworked in this blistering, contemporary version by Martin Crimp.

Genres: Plays

120 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1666

About the author

Martin Andrew Crimp (born 14 February 1956 in Dartford, Kent) is a British playwright.

Crimp is sometimes described as a practitioner of the "in-yer-face" school of contemporary British drama, although he rejects the label. He is notable for the astringency of his dialogue, a tone of emotional detachment, a bleak view of human relationships – none of his characters experience love or joy – and latterly, a concern for theatrical form and language rather than an interest in narrative.

Reviews

[մ · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Alceste thinks of himself as a kind of misanthrope, but I sometimes suspect that deep down he’s maybe just one more good old-fashioned misogynist”

[Tofax]

A contemporary "hollywood" version of The Misanthrope by Moliere...

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, witty play with brilliant characters. Laughed from start to finish!

[mac ireland · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many touchstones. Beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL writing. amazing, simply amazing.

[Juliet the Book Slayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyable and clever!

[Martin Denton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin Crimp's adaptation of Moliere's famous play is brilliantly crisp and up-to-date. It's also as brutally reflective of the way the world works today as Moliere's original Misanthrope was in its own time. Mr. Crimp's loose but faithful rendering tells the story of Alceste, a man who refuses to adhere to the hypocritical modus operandi of fashionable society. Though his candor with friends and enemies alike leads them to categorize him as "a kind of misanthrope," he is in fact an idealist and a romantic, yearning for a world based in content rather than style. Alceste states his credo thus: "Never try to deceive, / and only say what you truly believe." And he means it.

He stands in contrast to all of the members of his circle, typified by his friend John, who states his philosophy thus (in, be warned, somewhat coarse language):

...It's hard to be 'enraged'
if one is philosophically disengaged.
And the human animal looks far less fearsome
through the prism
of post-modernism.
The world's a mess. Absolutely. We've fucked it.
So why not just sit back and deconstruct it.

Alceste is a playwright; the other characters in The Misanthrope are likewise of the media elite. There's Marcia, an acting teacher; Julian, an actor; Alexander, an agent; Covington, a critic; and Ellen, a journalist. Most significantly there's Jennifer, a beautiful young American movie star, iconic flavor of the moment, a seeming plaything of the sycophantic coterie surrounding her. Jennifer enjoys playing to this crowd, dazzling them with wicked, witty bitchery. Alceste is in love with Jennifer, and she says she's in love with him. He wants to rescue her from the shallow hypocrisy of her existence. But it's not at all clear that she wants to be rescued.

Mr. Crimp's achievement--a significant one--is to reimagine a classic play in thoroughly contemporary, thoroughly relevant terms. In its cold, hard reflection of the way we live now, it is utterly chilling.

[Anthony Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I’ve read several translations: Tony Harrison’s works well, and there are various other verse ones.

This one’s also in verse, but the verse is neither regular nor consistently rhymed. Often the rhymes are approximate – at least assonantal or consonantal – and the style is such that most of the play reads, if one can say this, as naturalistic verse, stylised but not clumsy. There are places where I felt it didn’t work and would be a challenge for the actors, but overall it’s got a bit of punch and drive to it whereas the regularity of heroic couplets in other versions tends, for me, to sap energy from the dynamic.

Crimp has also brought the characters up to date. Thus Alceste becomes a playwright (retaining Molière’s original strong critical opinions); Covington (Oronte) is a critic who fancies himself as a playwright; Jennifer (Célimène) is a film star; Marcia (Arsinöé) is a teacher of acting, and Julian and Alexander (Acaste and Clitandre) are an actor and an agent respectively. Ellen (Eliante) plays a specially spiky role as Jennifer’s friend but also a dedicated member of the gutter press.

Two of the play’s more famous scenes – Jennifer gossiping for the entertainment of her cheerfully calumnious lovey friends, and the bitch-fight between Marcia and Jennifer – I found specially rewarding.

I think this is a provocatively wicked interpretation, and the ending, famously ambiguous in Moliere, is, I thought, much less so in this one. The Misanthrope really has dug himself a hole no one wants him to come out of.