Triad Stage’s production of Moliere’s Tartuffe was quite a departure from its usual selection of plays which heretofore consisted of works generally written from the middle of the 19th century up to the latest efforts by current playwrights. While the subject matter of Tartuffe remains timely, the challenge of translating 17th century French and Moliere’s 1962 lines of alexandrine rhyming couplets into contemporary vernacular threatened to be insurmountable. Recent performances have been lackluster and disappointing for me, so much so that I was beginning to feel a bit like the sentiment expressed in the title of Richard Farina’s novel, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me that I read in the 1960’s; however, Preston Lane’s masterful adaptation was brimming with life. Sight gags and puns not only survived the transition from past to present, one translation to another but were fresh and original. Usually one encounters dead spots in these revived comedic performances but Lane’s efforts yielded dividends of lively pace and delicious double entendre. Even Her Majesty the Queen fit in a Deus ex Machina sort of way and the Repo Man and his minions were pure gold masterfully framed in the fade away shots in the elevator.
The stage design at Triad Stage has been unflaggingly impeccable and Tartuffe was no exception. The entire cast is to be commended for its fine performance; it was a treat to attend a performance which included a number of different roles instead of the sparse characterizations that recent economic conditions dictated. The integration of so many roles was effortless although I must say that Rosie McGuire as Dorine stole the show in all the best ways one might construe such a theft without robbing fellow actors of their own considerable emoluments.
Tartuffe would have been good enough to persuade me to purchase season tickets for next year’s performances if I hadn’t already done so.
