''The Liar'' (french: Le Menteur) is a farcical play by Pierre Corneille that was first performed in 1644. It was based on ''La Verdad Sospechosa'' by the Spanish-American playwright

Juan Ruiz de Alarcón Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (c. 1581 - 4 August 1639) was a New Spain-born Spanish writer of the Golden Age who cultivated different variants of dramaturgy. His works include the comedy '' La verdad sospechosa'' ( es), which is considered a masterpiec ...

, which was published in 1634.

Summary

Dorante, the eponymous quasi-villain of the play, meets two women in the Tuileries in Paris, whose names are Clarice and Lucrece. He impresses them with his claim to have returned recently from the wars in Germany and boasts of the vital role he played. After they leave, he decides to court Clarice, mistakenly thinking her name to be that of her friend, Lucrece. Géronte, Dorante's father, announces to his son that he has found a girl for him to marry (Clarice). Dorante, wrongly believing that the girl that he likes is Lucrece, concocts an outrageous lie that he is already married in order to avoid having to marry Clarice. Meanwhile, Clarice is secretly engaged to Alcippe, who happens to be a childhood friend of Dorante. When Alcippe confronts Dorante in a duel, Dorante clarifies that he's not in love with Clarice, but Lucrece. To build the plot, the author throws in some hysterical side characters like Dorante's butler Cliton, and Clarice's and Lucrece's foxy lady maid, Isabelle who has a twin named Sabine. After more fabrications and complications (Dorante revealing that his "wife" is pregnant), Géronte is infuriated to discover that he was lied to; Dorante eventually tells the truth and the plot is resolved happily.

Production history

The play was produced at the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

theater in 1990, in a translation by

Ranjit Bolt Ranjit Bolt OBE (born 1959) is a British playwright and translator. He was born in Manchester of Anglo-Indian parents and is the nephew of playwright and screenwriter Robert Bolt.Programme notes for ''The Grouch'', West Yorkshire Playhouse Feb ...

. The production was directed by

Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 1 ...

and featured

Alex Jennings Alex Jennings (born 10 May 1957) is an English actor of the stage and screen, who worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. For his work on the London stage, Jennings received three Olivier Awards, winning for ...

in the title role and Desmond Barritt as Cliton. A reviewer for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' described Bolt's version as "the best translation of a French play into English ever done." A new translation and adaptation of the play by

David Ives David Ives (born July 11, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is perhaps best known for his comic one-act plays; ''The New York Times'' in 1997 referred to him as the "maestro of the short form". Ives has also written ...

premiered at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. in Spring 2010, under the direction of Michael Kahn. A new production of Ives' script directed by William Brown was presented at Writers' Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois, from May to July, 2013. The Los Angeles premiere of The Liar by

directed by Casey Stangl was presented at The Antaeus Company in

North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

from October to December 2013. David Ives' version of the play was also produced by

Artists Repertory Theatre Artists Repertory Theatre (Artists Rep) is a professional non-profit theatre located in Portland, Oregon, United States. The longest-running professional theatre company in Portland, since 1982 the company has focused on presenting the works of ...

in Portland (Oregon) in May 2015. The Liar by

directed by Penny Metropulos was presented at

Westport Country Playhouse Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit regional theater in Westport, Connecticut, Westport, Connecticut. It was founded in 1931 by Lawrence Langner, a New York theater producer. Langner remodeled an 1830s tannery with a Broadway-quality ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

from May 5–23, 2015. The Liar by David Ives, directed by Art Manke, was presented at Santa Cruz Shakespeare (Santa Cruz, California) from July 21 through August 29, 2015 (https://www.santacruzshakespeare.org/plays/#liar The Liar by David Ives, directed by Michael Kahn, was offered by the

Classic Stage Company Classic Stage Company, or CSC, is a classical Off-Broadway theater. Founded in 1967, Classic Stage Company is one of Off-Broadway's oldest theaters. Its 199-seat theatre is the former Abbey Theatre located at 136 East 13th Street between Third a ...

in New York, January 11 to February 26, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liar, The 1644 plays Plays by Pierre Corneille