Molière first staged The Miser on 9 September 1668 in the theatre at the Palai-Royal. Molière himself played the title character, Harpagon, who embodies avarice and stinginess. Despite its favourable critical reception (according to Robinet, the production was »bursting with funny incidents« delivered by »an excellent cast«), the play failed to attract audiences. Success came later, and The Miser became one of Molière’s most frequently performed plays. It has also appealed to Slovenian theatre-makers on several occasions: for the first time in the 1919/20 season in Trieste, and later on, in Slovenian professional theatres seven or actually eight more times, if we include in the total the »most miserly version of The Miser«, a monodrama by Andrej Rozman Roza.