A verse adaptation of Moliere's final play, The Hypochondriac is a scathingly funny lampoon on both hypochondria and the 'quack' medical profession. This version by Liverpool poet Roger McGough was first produced in 2009.

'Roger McGough's light-on-its-pieds adaptation... Though it begins with a fart, this is a not up-its-own-derriere version, in which, when a character comes out with a Gallic sentence, she's told that she should 'speak properly'. Its point may be satirical but it projects generosity.' Susannah Clapp, Observer, 28.6.09 'Roger McGough was a comedian before he became a whimsical poet, and these skills combine happily to serve his second Moliere adaptation.' Robert Hewison, Sunday Times, 28.6.09 'It's a tonic, guaranteed to lift your spirits and keep them high, buoyed up by the wit and dexterity of McGough's verse... A ticklish tour de farce.' Georgina Brown, Mail on Sunday, 29.6.09 'McGough takes a variety of attitudes towards Moliere, though reverence is not among them.' Alfred Hickling, Guardian, 1.7.09 'Roger McGough has added his own medicinal properties to Moliere's The Hypochondraic, upping the laughter quotient in an elixir that's easy to swallow though you might want to hold your nose.' Lynne Walker, Independent, 8.7.09

Translated by Liverpool poet McGough, and one of Moliere's most popular comedies, it will have a broad appeal to audiences and readers in Liverpool especially. The play runs from 19 June - 11 July 2009 at Liverpool Everyman Theatre then tours the UK. The Hypochondriac is a set text for WJEC AS/A2 Drama Theatre Studies. Moliere is considered France's greatest comic writer and his work remains an important component of A level theatre studies courses. Roger McGough is a major poet whose work is recommended for pupils of secondary English by the National Curriculum.

The Modern Plays series is world famous for containing the work of many of the finest contemporary playwrights. Established in 1959 with the publication of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, it remains a series synonymous with the very best in new writing for the stage. Today it features over 1000 plays and continues to grow alongside the staging of new work.