The Imaginary Invalid

In the late 1970s, The Public Theater presented the Yale Rep production of Sganarelle: An Evening of Molière Farces. It was a wonderful evening. One performer was particularly good: Mark Linn Baker. His fluidity with farce, both verbal and physical, was astonishing, and he was incredibly likeable. I knew that he would "go places." Well, go places he did: dozens and dozens of shows, movies, and TV shows, in a full, impressive career. And now he's again in a Molière farce. And, again, still, his fluidity with farce, both verbal and physical, is astonishing, and he is incredibly likeable.

The Imaginary Invalid is an old warhorse of farce, elegantly structured yet full of very inelegant characters and dialogue. Its main two topics are, arguably, love and enemas. The basic story is that Argan, a wealthy hypochondriac, has remarried, and his new wife wants him to disinherit his daughter. The daughter is in love with a sweet, vacuous, good-looking guy. However, her father wants her to marry a doctor, to save on his medical bills. Various charlatans wander in and out with terrible medical advice. Argan's wry maid attempts to add some sanity to the goings-on, but often utilizes less-than-sane (and quite funny) methods. 

The solid Red Bull production currently at the New World Stages features a funny, effective adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher, which largely follows Molière's play, but slimmed down and with some contemporary language. The direction by Jesse Berger is generally good, but at the performance I saw, certain moments hadn't gelled yet. A weakness is the ostensibly madcap section of people running around and slamming doors; it lacks clarity of why they're running around and who's after who, which actually does matter, even (especially?) in a farce.

Sarah Stiles, Mark Linn-Baker
Photo: Carol Rosegg

The cast is great. As Argan, Mark Linn-Baker (he added the hyphen after some years as Mark Linn Baker) is fabulously silly while completely committing to his character's wants and needs, as absurd as they mostly are. Sarah Stiles, as the cheeky maid, relishes playing her character's sardonic-ness as much as the character relishes being sardonic. Emilie Kouatchou gives a nicely balanced performance as a young woman both self-indulgently emotional and sincerely in love. Russell Daniels manages to make his ludicrous character actually kinda likeable. The other cast members, all also really good, include Arnie Burton, Manoel Felciano, Emily Swallow, and John Yi.

I am so very grateful that Red Bull exists. It's a tough world for theatre these days--even tougher than usual--and we've lost too many theatre companies. Red Bull's contribution is unique--and excellent. Long may it thrive!

Wendy Caster