The Imaginary Invalid

By Molière, directed by Keith Baxter

Written and first performed while Molière was dying, The Imaginary Invalid targets the medical quacks of 17th-century France. The eccentric and wealthy hypochondriac Argan decides to marry his strong-willed daughter Angélique off to a doctor, so that he’ll always have a physician around. But Angélique loves another man, and her attempts to persuade her father to let her marry him lead to outrageous tricks and disguises. Molière’s keen wit and hilarious characters take center stage in this knockabout farce. Keith Baxter (Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Rivals, The Country Wife) returns to direct a cast that includes René Auberjonois in his Shakespeare Theatre Company debut. The Baltimore Sun called Baxter’s production of Lady Windermere’s Fan “charming … a nearly irresistible temptation.”