Davood Fathali Baygi on his directing style "A Soiree with Moliere"

"A Soiree with Moliere" deals with the sufferings that Moliere, one of the best French playwrights of the 17th century, went through after writing Tartuffe and Sadi Afshar, the veteran Iranian performer of siyah-bazi who died in 2013.

Davood Fathali Baygi wanted to stage "A Soiree with Moliere" at 2013 Mubarak puppet Theater Festival but He could not prepare the play for the festival.

"A Soiree with Moliere" is performed with four female actors and 10 male actors and it’s not a puppet theater anymore.

The writer and director said: "One night I had an imaginary conversation with Moliere, one of the best playwrights of the 17th century in France, and this conversation turned into the play  A Soiree with Moliere".

He went on to say: "Moliere's plays are generally comedy and farces, and he criticizes the biases and injustices in society. He has a comedy play called Tartuffe in which he criticizes hypocrites, opportunists and demagogues. Moliere wrote this play during the Inquisition; the time when a group of institutions within the Catholic Church aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics  and Moliere saw how they hid themselves behind the mask of common beliefs. Because he saw the abuse of people's beliefs, he wrote "Tartuffe" inspired by an Italian play, and because he was supported by the court, he performed his play in the court, but opportunists, hypocrites, and demagogues were questioned in Tartuffe, so they prevented the performance of the play. Moliere rewrote his play and this time performed it under the name "The Impostor", but he still faced obstacles. He was finally able to perform his play, but those opportunistic and double-minded people nursed a grudge against him."

Fathali Baygi explained that Molière suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, possibly contracted when he was imprisoned for debt as a young man. The circumstances of Molière's death, on 17 February 1673 became legend. He collapsed on stage in a fit of coughing and haemorrhaging while performing in the last play he had written, which had lavish which ironically was titled Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid). He died without receiving the last rites because two priests refused to visit him. Moliere's life reminds me of the artists who are sometimes rejected because of the trouble and prejudice .some people undermine artists and their works. This inspired me to write the play.

This Iranian drama teacher also pointed out that "A Soiree with Moliere" includes parts of the play " Tartuffe" " and Siyah-bazi.

“The Soul of Moliere and Saadi Afshar, the great Siyah -Bazi performancer, appear on the stage, and although Moliere's comedy is different from Siyah- bazi comedy, the soul of Afshar playfully wanders in the process of writing the play by Moliere. “