Tartuffe
''It is as grandious and complex as the labyrinths within the palaces of his humour.'' This was once written about the work of the great French and one of the world's greatest comediographers, Jean Baptiste Pouqelin, in literary history remembered as Moli?re, the son of a wealthy royal upholsterer, owner of a law-degree and a passion of an actor and a writer. Don Juan, The Misanthrope, The Miser, The Immaginary Invalid... are but a few of his master-pieces that have been performed since the 17th century, not showing even a trace of fatigue. For human stupidity is eternal and, it seems, indestructible and Moliere's texts feverishly seek to unravel it, whether it is about the insane passion for money, manic cherishing of the cult of integrity, frantic self-admiration, or about the distrust and the hate towards the human kind. However, neither of these works didn't bring so many problems and troubles, as well as success in the end, to Moliere as did Tartuffe. It was performed for the first time in 1664 in an incomplete version, at the fetes in Versailles and it was immediately banned by the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, the ban which lasted until 1667. A refined version, entitled l'Imposteur (The Impostor), was offered to the viewers then, but with little effect, on the contrary: everyone who showed the play, printed it or read it was threatened with excommunication. Yet, the censorship was lifted in 1669; the success of Tartuffe was enormous and since then it has remained one of the most performed plays of the French classical theatre.
