‘Molière on Stage’ takes the reader onstage, backstage and into the audience of Molière’s plays, analyzing the performance of his works in both his own time and in ours. Written by a professional stage director with over fifty years’ experience directing and translating Molière, this text explores how the playwright strove to create a communal experience of shared laughter, and investigates four key topics relating to this achievement: Molière’s early experiences that lead to his later theater experiences; his central great plays of love and lust; his comedic genius and his passion for the stage; and the final words and performances of his life.

"“Goldsby’s unique book blends profound scholarship sustained over a long lifetime, with decades of practical experience working with the texts in the theatre and an incomparable sense of personal affinity for its main subject. From now on, anyone reading or performing Molière’s plays will be grateful for this startling book.”"

Lissa Tyler Renaud Source: Advance Praise

"“Robert Goldsby has outdone scholarship by perceiving Molière’s plays in multiple dimensions: as the actor prepares, rehearsing them over and over again; in the mind’s eye, with fertile imagination; and in stagings reconstructed, past and present, here and abroad, and in various translations, including his own. It’s hard to conceive of any study of Molière so encompassing, so informed by intimacy with the texts.”"

Herbert Blau Source: Advance Praise