THE MISER
by Molière
Adapted by Lib Spry and Laurie Steven
The Miser is the story of skinflint Harpagon’s war with his son Clay and daughter Lise, both of whom he endeavours to wield like commodities in his effort to dominate the world food market. Clay, a would-be film maker, and Lise, a struggling artist, start as romantic idealists who are unable to stand up to their tyrannical father. Over the course of their battles, their belief in the power of love over money is tested. Amid this war, we meet a host of intriguing and delightful characters who endeavour to survive their employment with Harpagon or outwit him for money. They include the streetwise conman Lafleche, the seductive wheeler dealer Fanny, the shady henchman Queasel, and the hapless chauffeur-cook Jackie. But in the end, it is Lise and Clay who triumph, with the aid of a surprising revelation from Harpagon’s silent business partner, Anselme. The play is a battle between generations and ideologies that unfolds in remarkable comic scenes. In confrontations with Dad, Clay discovers that he and his father are both in love with the same waitress, and Lise realizes that her lover has sold out his socialist values to win Harpagon’s support. Meanwhile, Lafleche, caught prowling around Harpagon’s office, finds an amusing way to torment the old miser, while cook-chauffeur Jackie is sorely punished when Harpagon lures him into confessing the dreadful things people say about him. Ultimately, the play peels away layer upon layer of Harpagon’s greed, revealing his intense lust for money and his paranoia that the whole world is out to get him. The Miser is Molière’s masterpiece of comedy, finely honed with a dark strand of satire, given a fresh and relevant revisioning in today’s world of corporate greed.
- Cast Size: 8M 9W 8ANY
- Running Time: 90+minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
Lib Spry has been a theatre maker for over 60 years as a director, writer, producer, educator, performer, popular theatre worker and translator. She specializes in non-traditional theatre: popular theatre, community theatre, site-specific theatre, theatre for young audiences, clown, bouffon, commedia dell’arte, and is a recognized teacher of Theatre of the Oppressed. She founded three theatre companies: Theatre Agile, Passionate Balance, and with Shirley Barrie, the award-winning Straight Stitching Productions. She has worked with Odyssey Theatre as the author and/or translator of Turandot, The Miser, The Raven, and Bungsu and the Big Snake. Recent works include: directing the Theatre Kingston production of Daniel David Moses’ Almighty Voice and His Wife; writing and performing It’s In Our Bones – a video solo show; devising and directing a vaudeville entitled We Are Old! We are Wonderful! with RECAA (an organization for seniors dedicated to using theatre to educate communities to recognize the mistreatment and abuse of seniors); directing Teesri Duniya’s production of Where the Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring. She recently finished a PhD in Cultural Studies at Queens University, and a post doctorate at Concordia University developing !Unsettling!, a life-sized boardgame for settlers to examine our relationship to Indigenous peoples.
Laurie is a director, playwright, dramaturge, and the founding Artistic Director of Canada’s Odyssey Theatre. Drawing on her background in masked theatre and Commedia dell’Arte, she has co-translated, adapted and directed Molière’s Don Juan, Scapin and The Miser, Marivaux’s False Confessions, Giraudoux’s Ondine, Lesage’s The Financier, and Benavente’s The Bonds of Interest. Laurie’s interest in adapting international folktales for adult audiences has led to exciting collaborations with Asian dance-drama choreographers on her productions of Turandot, Kamalay, and The Wedding, for which she won a Capital Critic’s Circle Best Director Award. In 2017, she received an Ontario Arts Council’s Chalmers Fellowship to further work in this field, which led to developing and directing the audio-drama series, The Other Path, a series that features original plays set in the contemporary world inspired by classic folktales. Laurie’s artistic work explores themes of individual empowerment and social injustice. Her plays include the madcap comedy, Moonlight Mischief, the social satire, A Guy Named Joe, and the contemporary surreal fantasy, The Girl with No Hands. Laurie is currently writing a cyberpunk take on a Persian folktale, and preparing to launch Odyssey’s World of Masks, a digital mask resource centre.
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