Tartuffe

Written by Moliere
Directed by Gemma Bodinetz
Liverpool Playhouse (9th-31st May 2008)

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

A comic satire completed by Moliere in 1664 and reworked by Liverpool poet Roger McGough - who often leaves me cold with his wordplay - did not fill me with much anticipation when I stepped into the Playhouse to watch this production. But how very much I was mistaken; it was very funny and timeless in its scathing exposure of human frailties.

Directed by the Playhouse's own Gemma Bodinetz, the play is about a conman who deceives Orgon (Joseph Alessi), the head of a wealthy household. Orgon feels that Tartuffe is a saintly figure, despite the protestations of the rest of his family - except for his mother (Eithne Browne) - that he is being swindled literally of house and home.

In a lot of ways it exposes the cant and hypocrisy within religion. This pious man Tartuffe (John Ramm) speaks as though the words he utters have come directly from God, but his real persona just desires material goods and wealth (the Vatican is not short of a euro or two) and the pleasures of the flesh. Fair enough, in regard to the latter, but don't pretend otherwise.

Tartuffe has been adapted on numerous occasions, but Bodinetz and McGough have put together a scintillating version, which brought laughter from the audience throughout its two hours.

Bodinetz chose McGough - who sticks to the rhyming verse written by Moliere but with a contemporary fizz - to adapt this production because she wanted to create a perfect mix of European drama, Liverpool culture and pure fun. She certainly got what she wanted.

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Comments:

Comment left by Amanda DeAngeles on 1st June, 2008 at 1:27
A spot-on review, Colin. I was apprehensive as I trampled across the "water is wet" grid of the fountain opposite the Playhouse theatre. This was a fantastic adaptation, and I hope for more from Bodinetz and McGough.

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