Tartuffe: Molière on the Rock
Photo courtesy of the NAC.
Dorine (Petrina Bromley) and Tartuffe (Andy Jones0
“Suckin’ on the hind tit” was likely not among Molière’’s catalogue of favoured expressions, but when it’s tossed off in Andy Jones’ hugely funny adaptation of the playwright’s 17th-century satire Tartuffe, which launches the new English theatre season at the NAC, it’s a perfect fit.
That’s because Jones, who also plays the vile religious fraudster Tartuffe for whom the play is named, has set Molière’’s satiric attack on religious hypocrisy in Newfoundland during 1939. It’s a setting that not only captures the vibrancy of Molière’s play with fresh and colorful language (“you’ve got more lip than a coal bucket,” “sweet Jesus in the garden!”), it also brings the play close enough in time and geography to us in Central Canada that we realize again how timeless and universal this attack – and it can be a vicious one – on religious imposters really is.
Jones’ ultra-loose translation and adaptation adheres to the original’s plot about how Tartuffe, a veteran charlatan, worms his way into the affections and home of the credulous and wealthy Orgon (the reliably good Joey Tremblay).
A war hero, the mercurial Orgon seems to have suffered in the fighting not just an amputation of an arm – some very funny use is made of that empty sleeve – but also of his judgement. “If he had a second brain, it would be lonely,” snaps Dorine, the maid in Orgon’s household who was apparently born to ignore her station in life (Petrina Bromley’s Dorine is a highlight of this production).
By welcoming Tartuffe…..read more in the Ottawa Citizen.