Director's Notes: The Imaginary Invalid

Where to begin? I have always loved this play because it pokes fun at all of us, and what is better than laughing at our own foolishness? However, last year, when I took forty students to Ashland for our annual visit to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, I saw a fresh interpretation of this four hundred year old play. When the students analyzed what they saw and voted for their favorite, this play won in a landslide. I researched editions of the play, and contacted the writers of the OSF adaptation. I was delighted when they allowed us the rights to produce the play, and we have been laughing since November! I hope you enjoy the show as much as we have enjoyed working on it. 

Argan is a hypochondriac, but as with many disorders of this nature, there is a reason he is mentally ill. He lost his beloved wife, mother of his two daughters, and life has not been the same for him since. He tries to move forward by marrying Beline, but she is only interested in his money, and is already carrying on an affair with Argan’s narcoleptic lawyer.

The rock of the family is Toinette, Argan’s servant and surrogate mother to his two daughters. She cleans up after them and is the mother they never had. The wise, witty, and sassy servant tries to get Argan to live his life, instead of frittering away his time taking the quack medicines provided by his unscrupulous doctor, the strange Doctor Purgon.

The girls want to marry for love, but Argan wants a doctor in the family, so the chaos begins. Into this dysfunctional family comes Argan’s brother, Berald. He seizes every day and squeezes as much life out of it as he can …. for a reason. He is in love with Toinette, but she cannot see a future because she is a servant and he is a rich aristocrat. However, when Toinette and Berald work together, anything is possible and perhaps they can make order out of the chaos. Add in a mute/deaf valet, a color blind mother, a nerdish suitor who wants to be an artist rather than a doctor, a dashing suitor who does not care about money, and a nurse who really enjoys inflicting painful injections, and you have the world of The Imaginary Invalid.

The Newberg High School Players will perform The Imaginary Invalid February 16-18 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students and $8 for adults. For more information, call 503-554-5303