
LE MARIAGE FORCE
[THE FORCED MARRIAGE]This tale of a money-minded bride-to-be pleases the audience and King Louis XIV, but fact merges with fiction when Moliere is confronted with the idea that his fiancée, the younger sister of his former mistress, Madeleine Béjart, may not be quite what she seems.
Lord Sganarelle, 53 years old, reminded of his age by his friend Géronimo, is engaged to Dorimene, a young woman. Sganarelle is excited about the marriage until he meets Dorimene. She talks too much and only cares about his money. Sganarelle seeks out philosophers but both are useless. So then he runs into Gypsies. They suggest Dorimene may cheat on him. Sganarelle also meets Lycaste, but doesn’t realize he’s Dorimene’s lover. Sganarelle goes to his future father-in-law Alcantor to cancel the wedding and Alcantor gets Dorimene’s brother Alcidas. When Alcidas threatens to fight him to the death, Sganarelle immediately agrees to marry Dorimene.
The production
The show is the 107th production of Melbourne French Theatre Inc. (MFT) in its 45th year [1977 to 2022] founded by Michael Bula and A. David Gorrie at the University of Melbourne – a record for any French-speaking theatre in the Southern Hemisphere. The show was presented from 16 to 20 August 2022 at The Kensington Town Hall, 30-34 Bellair Street, Kensington VIC.
The cast
CAST | |
SGANARELLE, a middle-aged bachelor | Donald McManus |
GÉRONIMO, his friend | Michael [Michel] Bula |
DORIMÈNE, his fiancée, young coquette promised to Sganarelle | Maya O’Farrell |
ALCANTOR, her father | Richard Ryan |
ALCIDAS, her brother | Celia Handscombe |
LYCASTE, her lover | Karim Bouriah-Lopez |
LYCASTE, her lover | Sophie Armstrong |
DEUX ÉGYPTIENNES (dancers and singers) | Karim Bouriah-Lopez + Ayala Gopnik-McManus |
PANCRACE, an Aristotelian philosopher | Dr. Hilary Gopnik MA, PhD. |
MARPHURIUS, a Phyrrhonian or sceptical philosopher | Celia Handscombe |
LIVE PERIOD MUSIC | |
Flute | Kasinda Faase |
Violin | Lara Mladjen |
Violin | Lachlan Harris |
Viola da gamba | Maddison Furlan |
Cello | Rosanne Hunt |



Photo gallery
Photos by Lindsay Marriott and Una MacManus