The Doctor Despite Himself by Molière was entertaining, energetic and amusing. The only problem I had was that it was performed in French which was a massive test for my GCSE-level standard of about 10 years ago... It may have been important to put this on the website of the North Wall as some people may not have understood any of it.
The synopsis was provided via a leaflet before the start of the show and three organisers attempted to explain the performance in fairly limited English before it began. The young actors were all enthusiastic and, one would assume competent although not knowing the story very well or being able to understand the 17th century French, I can’t really comment on this.
The play is farcical and some of the slapstick humour translates without the need for language which made parts of the play still very amusing. Two scenes particularly stood out; the first where the Doctor is drunk and the actors dance past him as he staggers across the stage and the second where the Doctor heals various ailments from different actors crossing the stage in front of him. These scenes did not include speech and were clearly portrayed so that we could still understand the message.
The actors swapped roles at one point and this really only added to the general confusion. I’m not sure why the Doctor needed to be played by two different actors but it didn’t help with the audience’s comprehension as there was already a language barrier.
Overall the play was amusing enough but I would really have benefited from having a better knowledge of French. I wouldn’t recommend going to see it unless you understand the language as this did cause me problems in comprehending the play and the story. The young actors enthusiasm and energy was impressive though and it would be interesting to see the play in an English translation in the future.
The synopsis was provided via a leaflet before the start of the show and three organisers attempted to explain the performance in fairly limited English before it began. The young actors were all enthusiastic and, one would assume competent although not knowing the story very well or being able to understand the 17th century French, I can’t really comment on this.
The play is farcical and some of the slapstick humour translates without the need for language which made parts of the play still very amusing. Two scenes particularly stood out; the first where the Doctor is drunk and the actors dance past him as he staggers across the stage and the second where the Doctor heals various ailments from different actors crossing the stage in front of him. These scenes did not include speech and were clearly portrayed so that we could still understand the message.
The actors swapped roles at one point and this really only added to the general confusion. I’m not sure why the Doctor needed to be played by two different actors but it didn’t help with the audience’s comprehension as there was already a language barrier.
Overall the play was amusing enough but I would really have benefited from having a better knowledge of French. I wouldn’t recommend going to see it unless you understand the language as this did cause me problems in comprehending the play and the story. The young actors enthusiasm and energy was impressive though and it would be interesting to see the play in an English translation in the future.