Yesterday on the 27th of march was the World Theatre Day. I thought of how often people go now to see a play. In the instant gratification culture, where everything is at the touch of a button, the attention necessary for waiting the plot to unfold is of paramount importance. The apps that give instant everything are impeding our patience for the slow pace of action.
It has been a new play for me. Written by Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) , The Absurd Précieuses ( original title Les Précieuses ridicules) is a one-act satire with the main focus on two ladies who are over the top when it comes to acting smart and witty when the reality is that they are bathing in a sea of ignorance and stupidity.
Magdelon and Cathos are the précieuses, two young women who came from the province into the wonderful town of Paris. They are eager to become known in the good world, with influence.
Gorgibus is the father of Magdelon and uncle of Cathos and he is pretty fed up of how expensive it has become to support the two ladies.
They need large amounts of cucumbers in order to prevent wrinkles to appear on their faces, expensive extracts of lily’s milk and all kind of neverheard concoctions that these ladies use to beautify themselves. He wants to see them married and he decides they should marry a pair of elegant eligible young men, La Grange and Du Croisy, but the two précieuses ridicule the guys and refuse their courtship. What is the reason , you might ask yourself ? As you can tell Magdelon and Cathos are two annoying pricks and anyone wanting to marry them should be taken immediately to sign the papers as that would be pure luck.
The ladies dream of a love story inspired from the books. With drama. With feelings of love which are not immediately revealed by the man. Marriage looks to them as a deal made in the market, it feels too mundane and offensive. How did the two guys dare to propose marriage to them? They want drama. They want a man who knows how to play with words. Gorgibus is dumbfounded and he can’t understand the logic behind this thinking. There is no logic of course as these ladies have no idea about how real world works and how healthy love looks like. They live in a dream fairytale and pretend to be witty and all-knowing when in fact they lack culture and intelligence.
The two young suitors who got rejected and ridiculed are determined to get revenge on the pretentious ladies. Here the play starts to become delicious.
Magdelon and Cathos receive a perfumed letter in which they are respectfully asked if they allow the presence of the “Marquis” de Mascarille. Smitten by the perfumed letter and posh words, they accept. Lured by the social status of the Marquis they are already fantasizing of how popular they will become once the influential circles hear of this visit.
The Marquis is a pompous man covered in red feathers and brought to the place on a chair by two slaves.
He is the kind of guy that needs constant admiration. He wants to be worshipped and he loves the attention. The ladies are hooked. They ask him all sorts of questions and he is more than happy to fool them with sweet words. He recites poems, theater plays and tells about amazing adventured which, for a smart ear, never happened. The Marquis reminds me of the real life narcissist person. The one that knows how to play with your mind by only saying the right words. The reality of his lies are clear for a sane mind. But for those who want the drama or who have lived in a fantasy world where everything is believed before it is verified, this Marquis is perfect. I thought of the fact that it takes a certain type of woman to attract such a suitor and it definetely takes a certain type of man to be willing to put this effort to impress a précieuse. The charade would end very fast if the woman would have the confidence to truly test the man and not believe the sweet words and if the man would test the woman for other things than pretty looks and sweet laughters.
The world we live in now is filled with précieuses who prefer to use more filters and more lipsticks rather than reading a page from a book. The world we live in now is filled with Mascarilles who pretend to be strong men when in fact they are filled with insecurities and doubts. The show of displaying love is a charade. The real suitors who are direct and straightforward and drama-free are cast aside, as they bluntness does not feed the need for drama.
The pompous show of the narcissistic Mascarille conquers the heart of the précieuses.
Now it is the perfect time to introduce the next suitor , a friend of Mascarille. The “Vicomte” de Jodelet. A very slow moving human being, with a somptuous appearance. Master of words, he also begins to tell fantasy stories of how he worked in the army and how brave he was. All of the stories are pure fiction, yet the ladies believe every single word. Their need to be nicely lied and lured into a fantasy world of love, lust and drama, has been fulfilled. Already smitten, both of them drop their handkerchiefs and the two suitors are ready to propose.
Oh but now real life happens. All of a sudden La Grange and Du Croisy appear.
They are out of breath and they start saying how they have looked for the other two guys incessantly. The Marquis and the Vicomte are their valets. Yes my dear. Two poor valets. The précieuses almost have a heart attack. They got fooled. The real suitors ask the two frauds to remove piece by piece all of the clothes they have stolen from their wardrobe. In the end even the intimate pieces get removed as the two naked fools are asked to put a bag to cover their naked body. This is a disaster for the young ladies. Everyone in Paris will find out about this. They got ridiculed and fooled and smitten by two poor valets! La Grange and Du Croisy laugh in satisfaction, telling them that they are more than welcome to keep the valets as they do not need them anymore.
Gorgibus enters the scene and he is devastated.
This prank ended the future of the girls. Now the only solution is to send these two ignorant ladies to the monastery as no sane man would ever want such lunatics as wives.
It was a delicious play and the plot is not very different from what happens in the real world in some places. I would say that courtship can be a charade for the ignorant and a funny attempt for the witty. Love is not about sweet words, love is about action and commitment.
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