The Imaginary Invalid

"I attended Southeastern's production of The Imaginary Invalid and watched the entire play." Bravo! Bravo! That was my reaction to the first half of the play. My face and abs were sore from laughing so hard. I was rather confused for the first 20 minutes or so, because unlike a movie, there was no preview to have an idea of what’s to come. I probably should have read the introduction in the pamphlet. This play was the last play ever written by Moilere. It was about a hypochondriac seeking a doctor for her daughters hand in marriage. I really enjoyed the rock opera duet put on by Cleante and Angelique. I was confused, yet intrigued for the majority of the play. However, I thought the director and actors and actresses did a phenomenal job of entertaining the audience during the three or four scenes prior to intermission. However, the second half of the play just did not keep my attention. Whether it was more story development or what, but I thought there were extra scenes that didn’t really accomplish much. For example the whole maid turns into a doctor skit just did not interest me. It thought it was very childish, and seemed to drag on for too long. I also wished I would have looked up what invalid meant before I watched the play, because it would have made it a lot easier to understand. For example, why they were speaking pig Latin, or why the maid and doctor were the same person. I guess that was part of the quirky humor, but I did not think it was funny. Plays are a unique way to interact with the text. It offers the director’s engagement with the text as well as some of the individual actors of play. I like the fact that it was live and I feel like that is true acting. Ideas I have rarely come out how I imagined so congratulations to director Nixon.