# Molière Scenes for Two Actors: Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and The Miser > Eight two-person scenes from Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and The Miser in free public-domain translations: where each one starts and ends, the game each side plays, how the words split, about how long it runs, shorter cuts for class or competition, and how to play Molière without mugging. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/blog/moliere-scenes-for-two-actors - Published: 2026-11-04 - Last updated: 2026-11-04 Your teacher has paired you up and said the word "Molière," and you've gone looking for a scene. What you find is plot summaries, a few monologues, and long excerpts from translations nobody names. None of it tells you where a scene starts, who has more to say, or whether it fits the ten minutes you have in class. Molière is one of the best writers there is for two actors. His people want one thing, want it completely, and are sure they're right, so every duet is a contest with a clear winner. The comedy lives in the contest, not in anything you add to it. The short version: below are eight two-person scenes from *Tartuffe*, *The Misanthrope*, and *The Miser*, all in free public-domain translations. For each one you get the first and last lines, the game each side plays, how the words split, and about how long it runs, with a shorter cut where the full scene is long. For single speeches, see our guide to [Molière monologues for auditions](https://www.offbook.com/blog/moliere-monologues-for-auditions). For comic duets from Wilde, Shakespeare, Sheridan, and Chekhov, see our list of [comedy scenes for two actors](https://www.offbook.com/blog/comedy-scenes-for-two-actors). ## Work from a translation you're allowed to copy Molière's plays are centuries out of copyright, but every English version is a translator's own work. The U.S. Copyright Office's [Circular 14](https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ14.pdf) lists translations among the common derivative works, which carry their own copyright for what the translator added. So pick the edition before you pick the scene, and make sure you and your partner hold the same one. For *Tartuffe*, use Curtis Hidden Page's verse translation, [Project Gutenberg eBook #2027](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2027), which Gutenberg marks public domain in the USA. Page lived from 1870 to 1946, and [Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Tartuffe) dates this translation to The Harvard Classics in 1909. Our free [copy of *Tartuffe*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/tartuffe) uses the same Page translation. For *The Miser*, use Charles Heron Wall's prose translation, [Project Gutenberg eBook #6923](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6923), also marked public domain in the USA. It comes from Wall's *Dramatic Works of Molière*, which the [Online Books Page](https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/who/Wall%2c%20Charles%20Heron) lists in an 1876 George Bell and Sons edition. *The Misanthrope* is the odd one out. We found no English translation of it on Project Gutenberg, only French and Finnish texts, so use Page's translation on [Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Misanthrope_(Moli%C3%A8re)), which notes it was first published in 1908 and marks it public domain in the U.S. Every line quoted below was copied from these three texts. A slash marks a verse line break. ### If your class uses Richard Wilbur's translation The best-known modern versions are Richard Wilbur's rhymed verse translations, which playwright David Ives calls "delightful and definitive." They're under copyright, so don't copy them from websites. Concord Theatricals licenses the acting editions of [Wilbur's *Tartuffe*](https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/14304) and [Wilbur's *The Misanthrope*](https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/14650). The scenes below are Molière's, so they're in Wilbur's text too. Find each one by its first exchange, since scene numbers can differ by one between editions. A note on the times. We counted the spoken words in each scene, stage directions out, and divided by 140 words a minute, the pace our [acting scripts](https://www.offbook.com/acting-scripts) use. Molière's stage business (a table, a cough, a search of someone's pockets) adds time, so a staged run will be longer. If you're entering a competition, the International Thespian Excellence Awards [acting rules](https://thespys.secure-platform.com/a/page/acting) define a duet as a performance for two players and cap it at five minutes. ## Tartuffe: three duets about who runs the house The play was first staged at Versailles on 12 May 1664 and then banned; the five-act version opened at the Palais-Royal on 5 February 1669, according to [Wikipedia's history of the play](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartuffe). Orgon, a rich householder, has taken in Tartuffe, a fraud who poses as a holy man, and is ready to give him his daughter and his trust. Everyone in the house sees through Tartuffe except Orgon and his mother. ### Orgon and Dorine: "Poor man!" (Act 1, Scene 5) Orgon has just come home from two days in the country. He asks the maid, Dorine, for the household news, and she tells him his wife has been ill. He only wants to hear about Tartuffe. Page numbers this Act 1, Scene 5; most French editions call it Scene 4. Start on Orgon's *Has everything gone well these last two days?* His brother-in-law Cléante stays on stage but says nothing more, so it plays as a duet. It ends on Dorine's exit line, *How pleased you are at her recovery.* > **ORGON:** And how about Tartuffe? > > **DORINE:** Tartuffe? He's well; / He's mighty well; stout, fat, fair, rosy-lipped. > > **ORGON:** Poor man! > > *Source: Molière, Tartuffe, Act 1, Scene 5, translated by Curtis Hidden Page, Project Gutenberg eBook #2027.* The game: Dorine wants him to notice his wife, and each report of Elmire's suffering is a trap he walks into. Orgon isn't playing a game at all, which is the joke. He means every *Poor man!*, so give it real tenderness and let the pattern do the work. It's about 220 words, a minute and a half, and Dorine says nearly all of them. Orgon has the rhythm. ### Orgon and Dorine: the marriage (Act 2, Scene 2) Orgon has just told his daughter Mariane that she'll marry Tartuffe, and he turns to find Dorine listening behind him. Start on his *What are you doing there?* and run to the end of the scene, when he leaves to calm himself with a walk. Mariane stays on stage and speaks no more, so the scene belongs to the master and the maid. It runs about 8 minutes, split close to evenly. The game: Dorine wants to stop the marriage without getting thrown out. She argues, mocks, insists she loves him, and, once ordered silent, talks to herself whenever his back is turned. Orgon wants to finish one sentence to his daughter. The turn is her *What! you are pious, and you lose your temper?* Soon after it he gives up arguing and stands with his hand raised, waiting to catch her speaking. Page's footnote describes how the Comédie-Française played the slap. Dorine turns her lifted hand into fixing her hair and cap, then picks a bit of fluff off Orgon's sleeve and blows it away, and her innocent face leaves him unable to strike. Rehearse that business slowly before you run it at speed. For a 3-minute version, start at Orgon's *Have done with interrupting. Hold your tongue.* ### Tartuffe and Elmire: under the table (Act 4, Scene 5) Orgon won't believe that Tartuffe made a pass at his wife, so Elmire hides him under the table and sends for Tartuffe. Her first move is to have him shut the door: *But shut the door first, and look everywhere / For fear of spies.* The scene ends when she sends Tartuffe to check the hall, and Orgon crawls out. It runs about 8 minutes. Elmire has about 690 words to Tartuffe's 465, and Orgon says nothing. The game: Elmire is acting a seduction she doesn't feel, for a husband who won't come out. Every cough is a signal to him, and he ignores every one. Tartuffe is suspicious, then wants proof before he believes her, then explains how to make a sin not count: *And secret sinning is not sin at all.* The best laugh is his answer to her loudest cough: *Would you accept this bit of licorice?* Molière left a warning in the text. In the middle of Tartuffe's speech about stretching the conscience, Page prints *('Tis a scoundrel speaking.)* and footnotes it as Molière's own note in the original edition. Elmire knows what he is; her danger is that he's persuasive, not that he's obvious. The earlier Tartuffe and Elmire scene, Act 3, Scene 3, is in our acting scripts. It's about the same length, but Tartuffe has most of the words. ## The Misanthrope: play honesty against good manners *The Misanthrope* opened at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal on 4 June 1666, as [Wikipedia records](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Misanthrope). Alceste can't stand the polite lies of society, his friend Philinte thinks they're harmless, and Alceste loves Célimène, a young widow who flirts with everyone. Writing for the [Shakespeare Theatre Company](https://www.shakespearetheatre.org/watch-listen/the-school-for-truth/), David Ives notes that Molière played Alceste in 1666, opposite his own wife as Célimène. ### Alceste and Philinte: no friend for me (Act 1, Scene 1) The play starts mid-quarrel. Alceste has just watched Philinte hug and flatter a man whose name he can barely remember, and he's furious. It starts on Philinte's *What is it? What’s the matter?* and Alceste's *Leave me, pray.* The full scene runs about 14 and a half minutes, ending as Oronte arrives. For class, stop at Alceste's *I should be sorry if they thought me wise.* That cut is about 6 and a half minutes, and Alceste has about 3 words for every 2 of Philinte's. > **PHILINTE:** What!—you’d tell that ancient dame, Emilia, / That she’s too old to play the pretty girl, / And that her painting is a public scandal? > > **ALCESTE:** Of course. > > *Source: Molière, The Misanthrope, Act 1, Scene 1, translated by Curtis Hidden Page (1908), Wikisource.* The game: Alceste wants Philinte to admit the world is rotten and stop taking part in it, and he'll push any example to the extreme to win. Philinte wants to calm him down and get him to laugh at himself. The trap is playing Alceste as a crank. He's right about a lot, and he's funny because he can't stop at right. His rule, *The friend of all mankind’s no friend for me.*, should land as a real hurt, said to a real friend. ### Alceste and Célimène: jealous of the universe (Act 2, Scene 1) Alceste has walked Célimène home to tell her he's unhappy, and he opens with *Madam, will you allow me to speak plainly?* He complains about her many admirers, mocks one rival's long fingernail and yellow wig, and demands proof that she loves him. It ends when her servant comes in to announce a visitor, cutting off his *Speak open-heartedly, and put a stop . . .* It's about 5 minutes, so trim a few lines for a competition. Alceste has about twice Célimène's words. The game: Alceste wants an honest answer and makes it impossible to give one. Célimène wants him to stop scolding without promising anything, and she's much quicker than he is. When he asks how he can know she didn't say the same to everyone, she takes it all back: *I take back, here and now, all I have said;* Her *But you grow jealous of the universe.* and his *Because you welcome all the universe.* should come so fast the second line almost overlaps the first. ### Alceste and Célimène: the letter (Act 4, Scene 3) For a longer, angrier version of the same fight, take Act 4, Scene 3. Alceste has been handed a letter Célimène wrote that seems to prove she loves Oronte, and he comes in raging: *O heaven! Can I be master of my passion?* She doesn't deny writing it. She refuses to explain it, then tells him exactly what he least wants to hear. It runs about 9 minutes, ending as his servant Du Bois comes in, and Alceste has about two thirds of the words. Play Célimène's refusal as a choice, not a confession. ## The Miser: let the money do the talking *The Miser* is a five-act comedy in prose, first performed at the Palais-Royal on 9 September 1668, with Molière himself as Harpagon, according to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miser). Harpagon, a rich old man, loves his money more than his children and plans to marry young Marianne, whom his son also loves. Because Wall's translation is prose, these two scenes are a good first Molière for actors who find verse hard. ### Harpagon and Frosine: the dowry of savings (Act 2, Scene 6) Frosine, a professional go-between, has arranged Harpagon's match with Marianne, and now she wants money from him. Wall numbers this Act 2, Scene 6; most French editions call it Scene 5. It starts on her *Bless me, how well you look! You are the very picture of health.* She reads his palm and promises he'll live to a hundred and twenty. Asked about a dowry, she adds up what Marianne won't spend (plain food, plain clothes, no gambling) and calls it twelve thousand francs a year. The game: Frosine needs money for a lawsuit and has to get Harpagon soft enough to give it. Harpagon will swallow any compliment and part with nothing. The ending is the best stretch. Each time she mentions the lawsuit he looks grave, and each time she praises him he looks pleased, and Wall marks every switch in the stage directions. Harpagon dodges her last pleas with offers of his carriage and an early supper, then escapes. The scene runs about 14 minutes to Harpagon's exit, and Frosine has almost three words for every one of Harpagon's. Two cuts work. From Harpagon's *But, Frosine, there is one more thing that makes me uneasy.* to his exit is about 7 and a half minutes and holds her speech about Marianne loving only old men. From *Tell me, Frosine, has Marianne seen me yet?* to his exit is about 3 minutes, the lawsuit dodge on its own. ### Harpagon and La Flèche: show me your hands (Act 1, Scene 3) Harpagon is sure his son's valet, La Flèche, is spying on his hidden money, so he throws him out, but searches him first. It starts on *Get out of here, this moment; and let me have no more of your prating.* and ends on *I leave it to your conscience, remember!* It's about 5 and a half minutes, with Harpagon carrying more of the words, and it needs almost no setup. The game: Harpagon wants to know whether La Flèche suspects the money, without admitting there is any money. La Flèche wants to curse misers to his face without getting hit. The search is the center of it: *Show me your hands.* / *There they are.* / *The others.* Agree every grab and pocket with your partner before you play it fast. To bring it under five minutes, trim a few of the lines about misers. ## Play the want, not the joke Molière's characters are funny because they don't know they're funny. Orgon thinks he's being kind, Alceste thinks he's being honest, and Harpagon thinks he's being careful. These scenes usually fail when actors play the label (the fool, the grouch, the miser) and wink at the audience to make sure it gets the joke. Director Dominique Serrand, in a Berkeley Rep playbill interview [reprinted by the Shakespeare Theatre Company](https://www.shakespearetheatre.org/watch-listen/asides-looking-for-the-magic-of-things/), talking about his *Tartuffe*, calls his Orgon, Luverne Seifert, a natural comic actor, and says he asked Seifert not to be funny at all. His production leaned dark, yet he adds that the scenes between lovers and servants are still funny. Even in a light production, the lesson carries: the more Orgon means it, the funnier he is. - Write one sentence for each character that starts with "I want you to." Dorine: "I want you to look at your wife." Frosine: "I want you to pay me." - Find the repeat. Molière builds on patterns: *Poor man!*, Elmire's coughs, Harpagon's grave and pleased faces. Play each repeat a little differently, and keep it as quick as your partner can take it. - Think in sentences, not lines. In Page's verse the thought often runs past the line end, so keep going until the punctuation. - Learn the business with the words. A table, a cough, a raised hand, and a pocket are part of the argument. Rehearse with them from the second run. - Pick up your cues fast. A pause before every reply kills a Molière exchange. Save your pauses for the turn. - Time your cut out loud twice, with the business in. Reading in your head is faster than playing it. If your class also wants a solo piece, our [comedic monologues](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/comedic) have classical speeches to pair with one of these scenes, and the full [monologue library](https://www.offbook.com/monologues) has the rest. ## Rehearse the scene before you meet your partner Molière's quick exchanges are hard to learn alone, because the timing lives in your partner's lines. Before you meet, agree on your cut and mark it in the same edition. For more help, browse our [free tools](https://www.offbook.com/tools). In Offbook, upload the scene in one of these translations and pick your part. Realistic voices read the other one, then wait while you say your line before cueing the next. As the video below shows, you can set how fast your partner talks, add a pause before a line, and have the scene move on after a few seconds of silence, so you practice keeping a quick exchange alive when you dry. Video: [Pacing](https://www.offbook.com/learn/pacing) (1:09) When the words start to stick, hide your own lines while your partner's stay on screen, or switch to first-letter cues for the long speeches. For a warm-up on a classic scene with no account, our free [run lines online](https://www.offbook.com/tools/run-lines-online) tool reads the other part and waits for you. Our guide on [how to prepare a scene for acting class](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-prepare-a-scene-for-acting-class) has the week-by-week plan. ## Questions actors ask ### What are good Molière scenes for two actors? From *Tartuffe*: Orgon and Dorine's "Poor man!" scene (Act 1) and their marriage fight (Act 2), and Tartuffe and Elmire under the table (Act 4). From *The Misanthrope*: Alceste and Philinte (Act 1) and Alceste and Célimène (Acts 2 and 4). From *The Miser*: Harpagon with Frosine (Act 2) and with La Flèche (Act 1). ### Is the Tartuffe and Elmire scene appropriate for acting class? It depends on the class. Both of their scenes are about a man pressing a married woman for sex, and in Page's Act 3 stage directions he puts his hand on her knee. Nothing in the text is explicit, but agree the staging with your teacher and your partner, and set any contact before you rehearse. For a younger class, Orgon and Dorine or Harpagon and La Flèche give the same comic contest without it. ### Which translation of Tartuffe can I use for a scene? Curtis Hidden Page's translation is free on Project Gutenberg and in our play library, so you can copy and cut it. Richard Wilbur's rhymed translation is under copyright; get the Concord Theatricals acting edition rather than a copy from a website. For a performance with an audience, check whether you need a license. ### How do you play Molière comedy without mugging? Play what the character wants, at full strength, and believe every word you say. Orgon's "Poor man!" is funny because he's sincere. Keep the cues tight, make the business precise, and let the audience find the joke rather than pointing at it. ### Can I rehearse a Molière scene without my partner? Yes. Rehearse on your laptop with the full script on a big screen, while Offbook's voices read your partner's lines and wait for yours. You can also listen to your scenes on your phone anywhere, which keeps your cues in your ear.