Molière is one of the connecting links between the two most influential theatre directors of the 1970s: Gábor Székely, who was ready to receive the official theatre structure, and István Paál, who grew into it by necessity. They first worked together at the beginning of 1972 on a performance of István Örkény’s Cat’s Play in Szeged. Shortly after the premiere, Székely took over the management of the Szigligeti Theatre in Szolnok, where he invited Paal first as a guest and then as a full-time director. As manager at the Szigligeti Theatre, Székely made his mark with the double bill of Molière’s The Impropmtu of Versailles and George Dandin. Paál’s debut in Szolnok was also through Molière: he brought Bulgakov’s The Cabal of Hypocrites to success in the spring of 1977. The essay examines how Székely and Paál created the figure of the French playwright and comedian in Hungary in the 1970s and what common features can be detected behind the different artistic approaches of the shooting star of state-socialist theatre and the cult director of amateur theatre.