Molière
1622 - 1673
Molière was the stage name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, the actor-manager who made a name for himself by reviving the French farce tradition, while bringing to the genre a keen sense of the absurdity of class. He wrote 31 plays, his masterpiece is widely believed to be Le Misanthrope (1666). Towards the end of his career, his troupe came under royal patronage and he established another new hybrid genre, the comédie-ballet.