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Moliere: The Last Laugh

 
Nicholas Abrams Review by Nicholas Abrams 4 Published: 27 May 2026 Divadlo Inspirace Show Dates: 28 May 2026-30 May 2026

After a day wandering the sun-soaked streets of Prague, with heavy legs and increasingly heavy eyelids, a one-man biographical drama about a seventeenth-century French playwright did not, on paper, feel like the ideal antidote to exhaustion. Yet Molière: The Last Laugh proved unexpectedly engrossing - part history lesson, part theatrical memoir, and consistently engaging throughout.

part history lesson, part theatrical memoir, and consistently engaging throughout

Most people will know Molière through the reputation of plays like Tartuffe, but far fewer are likely to know much about the man himself. This production, performed entirely by Gordon Duffy-McGhie, seeks to fill in those gaps, tracing the playwright’s life from the son of an upholsterer to one of the most celebrated - and controversial - figures in French theatre.

Structured around the conceit of Molière collapsing backstage during a performance of The Imaginary Invalid, the show unfolds as a kind of final reckoning. Duffy-McGhie guides us through the playwright’s rise to fame: the adoption of the Molière name, the formation of his theatre company, the patronage of Louis XIV, and the scandals and critics that followed him throughout his career.

What could easily have become static instead feels remarkably fluid thanks to both the performance and several inventive theatrical touches. Duffy-McGhie gives a confident and intelligent central performance, balancing humour with moments of weariness and reflection. More importantly, he manages to make Molière feel human rather than purely historical - ambitious, flawed, occasionally vain, but deeply devoted to theatre.

The production also finds clever ways to avoid the visual inertia that often plagues one-person shows. Powder becomes a representation of hostile critics and public scrutiny, while recurring feathers and prop work help create movement and texture across the stage. These small visual flourishes give the storytelling a theatricality that lifts it beyond straightforward narration.

What I found most satisfying, however, was the sense of discovery. The evening often felt like watching a particularly well-acted documentary - educational without becoming dry, informative without ever feeling overly academic. I left knowing far more about Molière than when I entered, and crucially, wanting to revisit his work with fresh perspective.

At times the pacing occasionally dips, particularly during some of the denser biographical sections, but the warmth and intelligence of the production carry it through. By the end, Molière: The Last Laugh becomes less a history lesson and more a tribute to the strange immortality theatre can offer: an artist long dead still managing to command a stage centuries later.

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The Blurb:

After collapsing onstage during a performance of The Imaginary Invalid, France’s greatest comic playwright, Molière, retreats to his dressing room to recover. Alone and frail, he rings for servants - who never come. In defiance, he invites the audience to witness his final confession, seeking to settle the accounts of his life: to weigh laughter against scandal, art against mortality.