Write a two-page essay on the play/production Tartuffe a theatrical production by Molière. These are essentially reviews, asking you to assess 1) the intention of the author, 2) the intention of the director, and 3) how you feel the production is or is not relevant to 2022.
Tartuffe
Background
Molière
Molière was baptized Jean-Baptiste Poquelin on January 15, 1622. His father was an upholsterer for the King and it was expected that he would take over the family business. It isn’t clear why he chose to pursue a life in the theatre, but in 1643, he and nine other individuals founded Illustre Théâtre, specializing in tragedies. His theatre company was a failure, and Molière wound up in debtors prison. When he turned to comedy instead of tragedy, he became quite successful, considered the patron of French actors and the best-known playwright associated with the Comédie-Française.
Tartuffe was written during the reign of King Louis XIV in France. It was the Grand Siècle in France – a time of cultural and artistic growth, when Louis XIV completed the Louvre and transformed Versailles from a hunting lodge into the extravagant Château at Versailles that can still be visited today.
The popular version of Molière’s Tartuffe is the third version of the play. It was originally written as a three-act play for a festival at court in 1664, but it was denounced as an open attack on religion, and Molière was forbidden to present it in public. The Archbishop of Paris banned the second version, written in 1667, from both public and private performances. In 1669, King Louis XIV authorized performances of the third and final version of the play, and it was a great success.
Tartuffe is the most performed play in French classical theatre.
Some of Molière’s other work includes:
1659: Les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies)
1662: L’École des femmes (The School for Wives)
1664: Tartuffe
1666: Le Misanthrope (The Misanthrope)
1668: L’Avare (The Miser)
1670: Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (The Would-be Gentleman)
1673: Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid)
Newfoundland Context
Andy Jones, the playwright and actor who interprets the character Tartuffe in the NAC production, explains why he chose to set the play in 1939 Newfoundland, and comments on other themes in his adaptation:
Jillian Keiley, the director, suggested Newfoundland. Tartuffe is originally a 17th-century upper-class French play. I thought about the elements that were central to the play, and considered how I could put them into context in Newfoundland.
Wealth: Every major community had wealthy fish merchants who bought from smaller fish merchants and resold the fish internationally. Often there was just one merchant per town. Sometimes there were several wealthy merchant families in the larger towns. [Photo of Mockbeggar Plantation]
Service: Dorine is a major character in the play, and she is working for the wealthy family (Orgon and Elmire). In Newfoundland in the late 1930s, (during the Great Depression) people from smaller towns went to work for wealthy families in the big cities. This gave me a reason for Dorine being in service to Orgon’s family.
A war hero: It’s important to the ending of the play that the main character be a hero in a recent war. World War I was a significant event in Newfoundland. We lost a greater per capita proportion of men than any of the other dominions in the British Commonwealth. Almost every family was touched by the war. Orgon becomes a believable character as a World War I hero.
The King: King George VI visited Newfoundland on June 2, 1939, just before World War II. He wanted Newfoundland’s support for the coming war (remember, this is before Confederation). [Commemorative Stamps]
An authority figure in the last scene: I chose a Newfoundland Ranger to portray this role. The Rangers predated the RCMP in Newfoundland, and were community leaders and government representatives in all the small towns. They knew everyone’s history, and would have been in contact with the King.
Language: The original play is written in verse, and my version is as well. I used a lot of expressions from Newfoundland. I consulted three dictionaries, and used many familiar turns of phrase. I also made up a few expressions of my own. [Allan Hawco and George Strombolopolous discuss some Newfoundland expressions]