The company of Tartuffe is right at your fingertips in the Rose Footprint Theatre, where audiences find themselves in the midst of a real, not simulated, 3-D experience. Photo: Kevin Sprague.
Review: “Tartuffe the Imposter” by Molière at Shakespeare & Company
by Roseann Cane
Tartuffe the Imposter, in a new verse version by Constance Congdon, from a new translation by Virginia Scott
Directed by Gina Kaufmann
Music by Luke Daniel Reed
First performed in Versailles in 1664, Molière’s Tartuffe, ou l’Imposteur created quite an uproar. King Louis XIV admired this satire of upper-class hypocrisy, but the Church took offense at what its dignitaries perceived to be a mockery of religion. The Archbishop of Paris declared he would excommunicate anyone who acted in, read, or saw the play. Unrelenting pressure from the Church moved the King to ban public performances for the next five years.
As you may have gathered, Tartuffe’s message remains as timely today as it was nearly 350 years ago.
Tartuffe the Imposter is the tale of a family nearly blown apart by Tartuffe (Douglas Seldin), a vagrant posing as a holy man with a penchant for self-flagellation—literal self-flagellation, that is. Seldin, clad as a beggar, works the audience before the top of the play, beseeching individual audience members with mawkish sighs while whacking himself delicately with a cat o’ nine tails. Seldin is a stitch, perfectly unctuous and smarmy.
We soon discover that Tartuffe has ingratiated himself to the wealthy and clueless Orgon (a hilariously bombastic Jake Berger) and his equally gullible mother, Madame Pernelle (played with delightfully skewed self-righteousness by Joan Coombs). The other members of the household, including Orgon’s wife Elmire (Caitlin Kraft), daughter Marianne (Monica Giordano), and son Damis (played with terrific energy by Gregory Boover), as well as Marianne’s fiance Valère (a strong Sam Perry), see through Tartuffe, but their complaints seem only to strengthen Orgon’s attachment to him.
The skilled acting is within reach of everyone in the audience, regardless of age. Photo: Kevin Sprague.
Emily Ehlinger plays the savviest member of this tumultuous household, the servant Dorine. Her effervescent, loopy portrayal brings to mind Megan Mullally with a suggestion of Lucille Ball. Ehlinger’s the real live-wire of the bunch, brisk and spontaneous, a first-rate physical comedienne. She’s a driving force in this show which, although just 80 minutes, seemed to drag uncomfortably during several scenes. Director Gina Kaufmann, who, with composer Luke Reed, transformed the five-act play into a 1960′s-inspired musical, cast the production, or perhaps directed it, a bit unevenly. At times I felt as if Giordano and Kraft were not as seasoned as their fellow players, or not yet up to the demands of fast-moving comedy. Giordano is terribly earnest, creating a character who juxtaposes awkwardly with the surrounding hijinks. Kraft struck me as rather contained, and in a seduction scene that could have been uproarious, she seemed self-conscious and held back; as a result, the scene became tedious.
But for the most part Kaufmann has done a smashing job. Conor Moroney delivers a top-drawer Cleante. Colin Gold, Luke Reed, and Brianna Sloane complete the cast nicely. The show bristles with fun more often than not, and it’s a skillful paring down of Constance Congdon’s excellent new verse translation. While I didn’t leave humming Reed’s 1960s-flashback music, it worked well, boosting the silliness.
And BRAVA to Meredith Wilcox for those trippy costumes! The entire cast was decked out in apparel I can only describe as a psychedelic homage to the ’60s–the 1660s, that is. The brilliant array of greens, yellows, purples, pinks, and tie-dyes, wittily enhanced by sashes, handbags, eyeglasses, and other wacky accoutrements, was an utter joy to behold.
The informal setting makes this afternoon of theatre special. Photo: Kevin Sprague.
The Rose Footprint Theatre is a sweet venue on the lovely Shakespeare & Company campus. Most of the seats are metal and plastic folding chairs; if, like me, you have a bad back, consider bringing a cushion. As with any outdoor theater, of course, it can get very warm on a summer’s evening, but thanks to the tent that encloses it, you needn’t worry about rain. A number of wriggly small children were in the audience when I attended, and I was charmed by the impromptu reactions of some of the actors, and how they skillfully managed to keep the kids engaged. What a fine way to introduce the little ones to the magic of live theater! Because of its rare ability to speak to all ages, Tartuffe the Imposter makes for a delightful family outing. It runs through August 25th.
Link: Shakespeare & Company http://www.shakespeare.org/
The Company of Tartuffe pauses for a group portrait with photographer Kevin Sprague.
At a Glance:
PRODUCTION: Tartuffe the Imposter
THEATRE: Rose Footprint Theatre
PLAYWRIGHT: Molière
ADAPTOR: Constance Congdon
DIRECTOR: Gina Kaufmann
MUSIC DIRECTOR/COMPOSER: Luke Reed
CAST: Jake Berger, Greg Boover, Joan Combs, Emily Ehlinger, Colin Gold, Monica Giordano, Caitlin Kraft, Conor Moroney, Sam Perry, Luke Reed, Douglas Seldin, and Brianna Sloane
COSTUME DESIGNER: Meredith Wilcox
WARDROBE: Margaret Koerber
STAGE MANAGER: Jessie Earl
Performance Dates:
Dates Times
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 6:00 (Preview)
Sunday, July 1, 2012 6:00 (Preview)
Thursday, July 5, 2012 6:00 (Preview)
Friday, July 6, 2012 6:00 (Preview)
Saturday, July 7, 2012 6:00 (Press Opening)
Thursday, July 12, 2012 6:00
Friday, July 13, 2012 6:00
Saturday, July 14, 2012 4:00
Saturday, July 21, 2012 5:30
Sunday, July 22, 2012 4:00
Saturday, July 28, 2012 6:30
Sunday, July 29, 2012 4:00
Thursday, August 2, 2012 4:00
Friday, August 3, 2012 4:00
Saturday, August 4, 2012 4:00
Thursday, August 9, 2012 4:00
Friday, August 10, 2012 4:00
Saturday, August 11, 2012 4:00
Thursday, August 16, 2012 4:00
Saturday, August 18, 2012 4:00
Thursday, August 23, 2012 5:30
Friday, August 24, 2012 5:30
Saturday, August 25, 2012 5:30 (Closing Performance)
Just back from a performance of Tartuffe (8/23), and either the players of the wife Elmire (Caitlin Kraft) and daughter Marianne (Monica Giordano) took heed of your criticisms early in their run:
“Giordano and Kraft were not as seasoned as their fellow players, or not yet up to the demands of fast-moving comedy. Giordano is terribly earnest, creating a character who juxtaposes awkwardly with the surrounding hijinks. Kraft struck me as rather contained”
Or you missed a central interpretive/directorial point.
“Fast-moving comedy” does not require that every part move at the same pace; in fact, asynchronous rhythms are essential to setting different characters off, as well as setting up and modulating the necessary currents of shifting action and pause. Every character revving at the same tempo would be both unsustainable and undesirable, creating an effect more of hysteria than hijinks.
Clearly the fastest-ticking metronome centers around the maid Dorine (Emily Ehlinger), whose mercurial vacillations would be mere fuel to frenzy if everyone else were zipping around in the same cyclotronic acceleration. These are, after all, characters in elongated arcs of delineation set against one another and within a greater whole, not rapid-fire pop-ups racing across some shooting gallery stage. If the presentation of even the broadest of types and perspectives within the matter of the play is to remain a chief objective, then distinctions must be drawn in both actions and responses of individual characters in order for there to be any chance of a composite portrait that is more mosaic than fluid blur.
Thus, the performances of Mss. Kraft and Girodano in today’s presentation were deftly rendered by any measure of suitability and admirably held up the ends their respective situations and individual characters, each with their own emphasis of separate physical gestures–in Ms. Kraft’s case, through undulating rotations of her luxurious eyes, and with Ms. Giordano, a varying and complicated rendering of shifting facial contortions, whatever else the blocking and stage action around them required.
From both my own attention and my observation of the audience around me, there was not a single lull in either the clip of the action or any player’s moment within it.
Many shows become even more wonderful with the passage of time as the performers settle into their roles. Your comments reflecting that are appreciated. L.M.