Theatre
The Liar
Le Menteur
Pierre Corneille · 1644
Synopsis
Arriving in Paris from Poitiers, where he wants to make his mark, young Dorante meets two young women, Clarice and Lucrèce, in the Tuileries and passes himself off to them as a hero of the German wars. He courts the one who spoke to him, but takes her for Lucrèce. When his father, Géronte, wants to marry him to Clarice, he invents a secret marriage in Poitiers; when his friend Alcippe, Clarice's fiancé, challenges him out of jealousy, he improvises further tales. Under the eyes of his valet Cliton, each lie calls for another.
Context
Written in 1643 and first performed at the Théâtre du Marais in 1644, the comedy adapts La verdad sospechosa by the Spanish author Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, transposed to the Paris of the Tuileries. It marks Corneille's return to comedy after a series of tragedies, from Médée to Polyeucte, and its success led him to write a Suite du Menteur, whose failure turned him away from the genre. The play, in verse, was published in 1644 by Antoine de Sommaville and Augustin Courbé. Its comedy comes from a mix-up over the names of the two young women and from the virtuosity of a liar who believes he controls everything.
Who it is for
For a sparkling comedy in verse, where a young liar's words invent the world instead of describing it.
Prizes and reception
A triumph at its first performance, it was staged in English at the Old Vic in 1990, then adapted by David Ives in 2010.