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Do we underappreciate comic writing ? It\u2019s 400 years since the birth of France\u2019s great satirical playwright, Jean-Baptiste Pocquelin, better known by his pen-name Moli\xe8re. Stendhal described him as \u201cthe great painter of man as he is\u201d and his works have continued to be translated and performed on both the French and British stage with recent adaptations by Christopher Hampton, Anil Gupta and the Scottish poet and playwright, Liz Lochhead. She joins Anne McElvoy to help consider what we make of Moli\xe8re now and how well his plays work in translation, alongside Clare Finburgh-Delijani, Professor of European Theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London and Suzanne Jones, a Junior Research Fellow in French at St Anne\u2019s College Oxford. Their discussion looks at various adaptations of Tartuffe, Moliere\u2019s play translated as The Hypocrite or The Imposter, which was first performed in 1664.

Listen out for a Words and Music episode which picks out key speeches from plays including The Miser, the Imaginary Invalid, The School for Wives and the Misanthrope. You can hear that on BBC Radio 3 at 5.30pm Sunday 16th - followed by a new adaptation of The Miser scripted by Barunka O\u2019Shaughnessy. You can also find out about the court music of Lully in Composer of the Week and there's a special edition of Radio 3's Early Music Show.

Producer: Ruth Watts