By Stuart Miller . . .
When my son and I saw Molière in the Park’s staged reading of Tartuffe in Prospect Park two years ago, we laughed frequently and marveled at the relevance of Molière’s writing more than 350 years on.
When a friend and I saw the theater company’s fully staged version of Tartuffe or The Hypocrite last week, we chuckled occasionally but just as often fidgeted in our seats.
Two major changes transformed what had felt like a revelation to an often flat evening of theater, despite game performances by the cast.
First, was the decision to ditch Richard Wilbur’s translation used in the earlier performance in favor of a new script. This version was translated by Maya Slater after being reconstructed by Georges Forestier by a process called “historical genetics,” from Molière’s original production, which had been immediately banned by the King of France in 1664.
While the idea of combating censorship is noble, this version lacks the punch of Wilbur’s snappy and sharp edition. (Founding Artistic Director Lucie Tiberghien also included more overt references to life in the 2020s last time around, which packed extra wallop.) Additionally, the play was sliced down to 80 minutes, eliminating major characters and dramatic plot twists in the final act, in which Tartuffe seems to have outsmarted everyone and survived his scandal. The paring down leaves the ending seeming simplistic and “feel good.j”
The false piety of Tartuffe (a charismatic Matthew Rauch) has seduced both Orgon (Yonatan Gebeyehu, too loud and broad) and his mother, Madame Pernelle (Kim Awon, equally over the top). They are willing to hand over money and decision-making power to this fraud, who lusts after Orgon’s wife, Elmire (a charming and determined Michelle Veintimilla).
The rest of the family sees Tartuffe for what he is and are determined to expose him before he ruins everything. In this version, Orgon’s daughter Mariane and her beloved Valere, are gone as is the story of Orgon forcing Mariane to marry Tartuffe, which makes Orgon’s brainwashing seem even more foolish.
Now the romance imperiled by Tartuffe’s influence involves Orgon’s son Damis (a solid Keshav Moodliar) and the servant Dorine (the dynamic and vibrant Kaliswa Brewster). Damis gets himself banished by his father for daring to accuse Tartuffe of misbehavior, but all too soon Elmire sets up Tartuffe in a way that proves the truth to Orgon. And then, boom, that’s it. The threat is over.
When Orgon tears up the statement promising all his possessions to Tartuffe, the villain skulks away. In the previous version, this is when Tartuffe plays his trump card—he has swiped letters that would damage Orgon and a friend if they were revealed. Tartuffe soon gains control of Orgon’s family home and all that’s in it, and he is about to have Orgon arrested. Having dramatically raised the stakes, Molière provides the requisite happy ending, with Tartuffe getting his comeuppance and the family returning to normal. While that sounds like the end of every sitcom episode, the arc is much more satisfying than this truncated version.
The second change for the worse was the decision to switch from a traditional stage to a square one with the audience on all four sides. In some scenes, this meant the character with the meatiest moment had his or her back to you.
More often it meant the characters were staged as far apart as possible, bringing artifice front and center as they rotated around the stage in blocking that sprung not from organic character behavior but from a desire to maximize visibility. This also forced them to shout at each other when sly conspiring or other quieter deliveries would have been more effective.
Molière in the Park is doing great work by bringing free theater to Brooklyn, often giving fantastic actors of color major roles they may not get elsewhere. Perhaps at some point they’ll return to the previous version of Tartuffe and give it the fully staged production it—and Brooklyn’s audiences—deserve.
Tartuffe or The Hypocrite. Through May 27 at the LeFrak Center in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. 80 minutes, no intermission. www.moliereinthepark.org
Photos: Russ Rowland
