The Love Knot is a farce in the Moliere manner: For sheer delight, for characters that sparkle with that tinkling kind of gaiety that keeps the audience laughing, you can't find a better one-act play. A 17th century analyst, bored with his success, decides to give the wrong advice to his next patient, a pompous aristocrat who can't imagine why his love, Aminta, doesn't adore him. The analyst recommends that he shower his attention on Lucille, a sleazy, boorish barmaid. Lucille is thrilled, but her lover, the equally boorish Picard, is not—until the analyst points Picard at the fashionable Aminta. The merry mix-up keeps the characters jousting and the audience laughing, while reminding us that it is better not to pretend to be something we are not.

For sheer entertainment and fun, this play is hard to beat, even by the merry farces of Moliere, who obviously has influenced this young American writer, a young Hollywood native who can't remember when he was not enthralled with the theatre. "Upon entering high school," he says, "I was introduced to the works of Moliere. I took such a liking to his plays and his style of writing that I became known as the 'Moliere Freak' of the high school." The Love Knot, a twentieth century reincarnation of Moliere's style, is the fruit of that fascination.

For junior high, high school, college and community drama. Excellent contest play. Set, a public place in Paris; seventeenth century French costumes.

"We presented The Love Knot at the DoDDS Far East Speech and Drama Festival in Seoul, Korea. We are happy to report that the play won first place in the contest."—Fay F. McGraw, Yokoto, Japan, High School. "One of the performances was done for judges in a statewide competition. The Love Knot won one of the seven prizes awarded. It's an excellent play for high school. It's well put together, very funny, and a perfect subject for high school."—Ralph Emerson, Woodrow Wilson High School, Tacoma, Washington.

Clark's adaptations of Moliere: The School for Husbands, The Doctor in Spite of Himself

See also: The Medicine Man