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Molière

2025/5/22
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In Our Time
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J
Jan Clarke
J
Joe Harris
M
Melvyn Bragg
N
Noel Peacock
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Melvyn Bragg: 莫里哀在巴黎和凡尔赛创作并表演了他最著名的戏剧，以至于法语被称为莫里哀的语言。他最初是一位有悲剧梦想的演员，但在喜剧方面更为出色，在路易十四召见他之前，他带着剧团巡演了13年。莫里哀的早期生活和职业生涯充满了挑战和机遇，从巴黎的资产阶级家庭出身，到在各省巡演多年，最终在巴黎获得成功。尽管他最初的志向是成为一名悲剧演员，但他最终在喜剧方面取得了巨大的成就，并成为了法国戏剧的代表人物。 Jan Clarke: 我认为莫里哀出生于巴黎资产阶级家庭，他的家族从事窗帘、挂毯制造等行业。关于莫里哀的早期生活，流传着一些传说，比如他祖父带他去看滑稽剧演员，激发了他对戏剧的热爱，但他父亲并不鼓励他成为演员。他可能因为爱上了一位女演员而放弃了学业，并跟随她走上了舞台。在1630年代之前，演员的社会地位很低，但之后，随着在巴黎建立的剧团出现，他们的地位有所提高。即使演员的地位有所提高，他们仍然被认为是受教会驱逐的，这给莫里哀的生活带来了一些问题，因为他们不能接受圣礼，必须放弃职业才能获得临终圣礼。莫里哀在各省巡演了13年，这主要是因为他的剧团破产了。莫里哀的剧团最初发展得不错，但后来由于竞争剧院的重新开放，观众开始减少，导致他们负债累累。莫里哀因为债务问题被监禁，后来他的父亲出面偿还了债务，他才得以获释。 Joe Harris: 我认为当时的剧团需要具备的一项重要技能是能够根据票房收入和观众反馈迅速调整剧目。与今天不同，当时的剧目不会提前很长时间宣布，而是剧团会密切关注票房收入，如果收入不佳，剧目可能会在几次演出后就被放弃。演员需要有很强的记忆力，因为如果有人不能在某个晚上演出，就需要换另一个人顶上。观众的行为非常具有干扰性，剧院的音响效果很差，演员需要有很强的嗓音才能吸引观众的注意力。莫里哀很早就发现自己在喜剧和闹剧方面很有天赋，但他最初的志向是成为一名悲剧演员。莫里哀试图在悲剧中引入一种更自然主义的说话方式，但他并没有得到观众的欣赏。 Noel Peacock: 莫里哀在1658年回到巴黎，并确信自己会受到欢迎。莫里哀的第一个成功作品是《可笑的女才子》，这是一部独幕闹剧，受到了意大利即兴喜剧演员的影响。《可笑的女才子》讽刺了模仿巴黎矫揉造作女性的外省女孩，引起了公众的强烈反响，因为莫里哀被认为是在攻击那些对道德和语言产生文明影响的人。在边境战争之后，语言和行为都变得非常粗俗，真正的传教士试图重塑礼仪和语言。莫里哀说，他面临的最大挑战是让那些不愿在公共场合大笑的贵族和上层中产阶级笑起来，他通过将文学喜剧与闹剧结合起来做到了这一点。

Deep Dive

Chapters
This chapter explores Molière's early life, his family background, and his initial steps into the world of acting. It discusses his education, his early theatrical experiences, and the challenges he faced as an actor in 17th-century Paris.
  • Born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, he adopted the stage name Molière.
  • His family was from the Parisian bourgeoisie.
  • He received education at the Collège de Clermont.
  • His early acting career involved financial struggles and imprisonment for debt.
  • He toured with his troupe for 13 years in the provinces.

Shownotes Transcript

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great figures in world literature. The French playwright Molière (1622-1673) began as an actor, aiming to be a tragedian, but he was stronger in comedy, touring with a troupe for 13 years until Louis XIV summoned him to audition at the Louvre and gave him his break. It was in Paris and at Versailles that Molière wrote and performed his best known plays, among them Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope and Le Malade Imaginaire, and in time he was so celebrated that French became known as The Language of Molière.

With

Noel Peacock Emeritus Marshall Professor in French Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow

Jan Clarke Professor of French at Durham University

And

Joe Harris Professor of Early Modern French and Comparative Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

David Bradby and Andrew Calder (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Molière (Cambridge University Press, 2006)

Jan Clarke (ed.), Molière in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2022)

Georges Forestier, Molière (Gallimard, 2018)

Michael Hawcroft, Molière: Reasoning with Fools (Oxford University Press, 2007)

John D. Lyons, Women and Irony in Molière’s Comedies of Mariage (Oxford University Press, 2023)

Robert McBride and Noel Peacock (eds.), Le Nouveau Moliériste (11 vols., University of Glasgow Presw, 1994- )

Larry F. Norman, The Public Mirror: Molière and the Social Commerce of Depiction (University of Chicago Press, 1999)

Noel Peacock, Molière sous les feux de la rampe (Hermann, 2012)

Julia Prest, Controversy in French Drama: Molière’s Tartuffe and the Struggle for Influence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)

Virginia Scott, Molière: A Theatrical Life (Cambridge University Press, 2020)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production