Molière's Company

It is significant that Molière was writing for a specific group of actors. He knew their strengths and weaknesses, their personalities and their limitations. After twelve years on the road, he had considerable experience with the likes and dislikes of audiences. As an actor himself, he knew what would play and what would not play. This undoubtedly had an effect on his writing.

• With this in mind, Molière wrote identifiable parts for:
  Himself: Orgon in Tartuffe, the title characters in The Misanthrope, The Miser and The Imaginary Invalid among others.
  Madeleine Bejart. Even prior to the formation of the Illustre Theatre, she had a reputation especially in tragedy. Dorine in Tartuffe suited Madeleine to a tee.
  Armande Bejart. 20 years younger than Molière, schooled by him; charming and versatile, she took over the troupe after Molière's death. Celimene in The Misanthrope was styled not only for but after her.
  Joseph Bejart was regarded as very competent; played the lovers and is reputed to have had a stammer.
  Louis Bejart played the comic valets like La Fleche, and was apparently very popular with audiences.
  La Grange took over the lovers after Louis Bejart's death. He became the general factotum, keeping the books. His Registre is the primary source of information about the company. After Molière's death, he took over the task of "orator," in which capacity he made announcements as needed and was responsible for keeping the audience in order.
  Du Croisy was fat, cheerful, handsome and the original Tartuffe.
  Mlle du Parc was a legendary beauty. Molière, Corneille, La Fontaine and Racine all were supposedly in love with her. She was in fact the subject of a poem by Corneille, "A Marquise," and was seduced away from Molière's company by Jean Racine to play in his Alexandre at the Hotel du Burgôgne. The play was based on an outline by Molière and rehearsals were already underway when this theft took place. All Paris was outraged, and Molière never spoke to his protégé again.
  M du Parc (Gros Rene) was well suited to be the cuckold. He played buffoons in the earlier plays and departed with his naughty spouse to the Hotel du Burgôgne.
  Mlle de Brie was an ingenue, playing Marianne in The Miser, etc.
  M de Brie played ruffians and soldiers.
  Mlle Beauval played maids like Toinette in The Imaginary Invalid.
  M Hubert specialized in old women, a tradition that has recently been revived in men playing Mme Pernell in Tartuffe.
  Baron was the son of an actor and actress and became a star in his own right.
  Mmes La Grange and Du Croisy were in the company but had relatively unimportant parts assigned to them.

An especially illuminating glimpse into the methods and personalities of the troupe are found in a little one-act farce called Impromptu at Versaille. In it, Molière is assigning roles to his actors and giving little demonstrations about how each character should be done. One can only imagine what a tour de force it must have been for the originals to be lampooning themselves.