Miseryguts & Tartuffe
Two plays from Molière, by 'Scotland's greatest living dramatist' (Scotland on Sunday).
Miseryguts is a Scots version of Molière's Le Misanthrope, a bitter comedy about a worldly sophisticate who cannot help telling uncomfortable truths about his fellow men – and women, with one of whom, despite himself, he is deeply and painfully in love.
In this Scots version of Molière's play, Liz Lochhead transposes the action of the play into the world of media and politics in 21st-century, devolved Scotland, allowing for a rich seam of contemporary satire.
Miseryguts was first performed in March 2002 at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.
Tartuffe is a rollicking Scots version of Molière's comic masterpiece. Lochhead brings out Molière's mix of political satire and black comedy as the religious hypocrite, Tartuffe, worms his way into Orgon's household.
Liz Lochhead's version is written in a robust Scots dialect, while retaining the rhyming couplet form of the French original. It was first performed in January 1986 at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.
Liz Lochhead is a poet, playwright, performer and broadcaster. She was named the Scots Makar, or national poet, in January 2011.