This adaptation of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme was inspired by Paddy Gormley’s observation that, in the absence of a vast array of musicians and dancers, modern theatre audiences would surely be puzzled and discouraged by Molières original: the plot does not begin to unfold properly until the third act. In The Social Climber, the action of the play is reorganised into nine scenes, with the emphasis on telling the story. The translation is broadly faithful to Molière, but using modern idiomatic English and including only a few capricious additions. The text is in rhyming verse, using very short lines (mostly just four or six syllables) to energise the action.
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