Tartuffe is both one of Moliere’s most famous and most controversial comedies. Following the story of a young sinner, Tartuffe, who has been taken in by an infatuated patriarch named Orgon, the plays’ treatment of contentious issues such as religious hypocrisy led to its being censored. However, audiences both now and then delighted in the hilarity of the farcical characters and satirical narrative.
This cast have clearly made the script their own, with the addition of hilarious interjections and witticisms to the dialogue; recurring jokes such as the persistent mispronunciation of “Tartuffe”, and the “rough translation” of English phrases spoken with French accents, for instance, really added a fresh lick of paint to a well-known classical story.
The characters themselves were strong, and the actors should be commended for creating such memorable onstage personalities. Particularly notable, in my opinion, was Bria Thomas in the role of the outspoken servant girl Dorine, whose clever asides and pithy remarks were remarkably engaging. Tommy Siman brought many contrasting colours to the character of Tarfuffe; his alternation between the sweet, pious holy man and the dark, saucy sinner was both comedic and ironic, as the audience got a chance to glimpse the villainous man behind the facade. I also thought that Melita Cameron-Wood did a fantastic job of interpreting the role of Madame Pernelle, at once a cynical, painfully truthful old hag and a foolishly enamoured advocate of Tartuffe.
The comedy was by no means overdone, however. Co-directors Ben Nicholson and Fay Lomas still succeeded in representing the central themes of the play; false virtue and the deceitful manipulation of doctrine for sinful personal gain. Both Siman and Joshua Wilce, who plays the master-of-the-house Orgon, both collaborated fabulously together on stage to create buckets of irony, simultaneously infuriating and comic. A nice touch during the scenes where Tartuffe seduces Orgon’s wife Elmire (Alma Prelec), was that the stage was bathed in an ominous red light. This really drew the audience’s attention to the sin unfolding onstage.
The performance certainly succeeded in doing what it set out to do; creating an entertaining piece with a laugh a minute, whilst at the same time leaving us to contemplate the darker side of religion and human nature.
Tartuffe is showing 4th – 9th of February at the Corpus Christi Auditorium.
