Molière's last show

Open Archive Day

Last week, a comedian who was apparently famous on the live comedy circuit in the UK, died on stage in front of a baffled audience. Which reminded me of Molière, who very nearly managed that - playing the title role in his own play Le malade imaginaire (the imaginary invalid) he fell ill on stage and died at home a few hours later.

I used the story of Molière's last performance as an opener in my feature on the US psychiatry manual, the DSM-5, which in a way, also has the difficult task of working out what is real disease and what isn't. I don't often get to mention Molière in my features so I have kept fond memories of this one, where he played such a starring role.

Has the manual gone mental?