Nature of healing: UNM presents French playwright Molière's 'The Imaginary Invalid'

Apr. 24—Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez has spent months getting from page to stage.

As the director of French playwright Molière's "The Imaginary Invalid," he's had his work cut out as he presents the play with the University of New Mexico Department of Theatre and Dance.

The play is being presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25,Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27; and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 28, at Rodey Theatre on University of New Mexico's campus.

"The concept of our production season of this year is home," he says. "I wonder what that means for me. I don't know. Many things. I think about it while I witness genocide on my phone. Many things are different. Many things are the same. I am a foreigner from Argentina directing a beautiful play written by a European white man of the XVII century. Topics are medical dependency, corrupt doctors in a corrupt health-profit-oriented system, meds overconsumption, forced marriage, love, friendship and betrayals."

Rodriguez says the comedic gem brings to life the misadventures of Argan, a hypochondriac ensnared in a cunning web spun by unscrupulous medical practitioners and pharmaceutical profiteers.

Set in 17th-century France, "The Imaginary Invalid" delves into themes as relevant today as they were 500 years ago.

Witness the consequences of unchecked reliance on medication and the insidious nature of pharmaceutical greed as Argan navigates his world of imaginary ailments and dubious treatments. The play serves as a poignant exploration of addiction, avarice, and the true nature of healing.

"The cast includes students and professional actors. During the creative process our primary initiative was to explore the limits of the farce," Rodriguez says. "Quickly we found out that a powerful strategy was to accept our own ridiculousness. That one aspect inside us that is exaggerated, overdramatic, laud, irreverent, idiotic. After that discovery, Molière's acid, clever and popular sense of humor revealed itself to us."

Rodriguez says Molière wrote a handful of amazing plays.

"I love them all. But my love is not unconditional," he says. "Molière was a revolutionary, a theatre person, a director, an actor and writer. He did not do period plays. He did radical theatre. He confronted power and was banned from the public stage. His theatre was based on traditional procedures but with a very avant-garde progressive vision."