Molière: The Imaginary Invalid - Open-Air Theater at the Water Castle

Badische Landesbühne Open-Air Theater Performance People don’t really die in the theater. But what if they do? Molière lies dead on stage, believing he is still alive. A Molière comedy about Molière. This year’s open-air production by the Badische Landesbühne will be performed on Tuesday, June 30, at 8 p.m. in the courtyard of the moated castle in Bad Rappenau. When the curtain falls in the theater, all the dead rise again to applause. Yet a theater legend claims that Molière died on stage during a performance. Nona Fernández has built a comedy around this anecdote. Playing a hypochondriac, Molière pretends to be dead in the play. But when he is supposed to stand up during the performance—nothing happens. He is truly dead. Shortly thereafter, Molière awakens as a living dead man and refuses to believe he has died. When a scheming patron attempts to take over his theater troupe, Molière’s spirit fights back with every means at his disposal. Molière – The Imaginary Dead Man is a play that contains everything that characterizes a Molière comedy: the human, the all-too-human, deceptions, and slapstick. Tickets for the Badische Landesbühne’s open-air theater performance on June 30, 2026, in the courtyard of the moated castle in Bad Rappenau (in the Kurhaus in case of inclement weather) cost 18 euros. Advance tickets are available at the Bad Rappenau Tourist Information Office, Kirchenstraße 13 (in the Volksbank building), by phone at 07264/922-391, or online at [gaesteinfo@badrappenau.de](mailto:gaesteinfo@badrappenau.de).