This show presents several puzzles: how can it drag for 40 minutes and then zip along for 30? How are there underpowered performances then energetically hilarious turns moments later? How does director Sarah Tipple marshal her resources around the Crucible perfectly in one moment and then seem to lose grip of the space’s unique demands the next?
This Roger McGough translation of Molière’s Le Malade Imaginaire won fans in 2009. For a good portion of the first act, you wonder why this historic piece wasn’t left in the past. The staging feels laborious and though all farces (while technically a comédie-ballet, there are false moustaches, entrances and exits aplenty) demand a lot of set up, it takes some time to hit its straps.
