Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Gritty ‘Tartuffe’ rings true
Inthe
Sylvaine Strikers award- winning Fortune Cookie Company is touring the country with Molière’s comedic satirical Tartuffe.
It is play which caused a ruckus when it was staged in the 17th century and continues to ignite audiences with its gritty images and themes.
The company launched the tour at the Soweto Theatre – to tremendous acclaim. The production is on in the Baxter’s Flipside until April 29.
Strike is directing a standout cast of nine – including Neil McCarthy – the legendary Joburg actor who has been absent from the stage for many years.
He last performed in Cape Town, in 1994, when he played King Arthur in the musical Camelot at the former Nico Malan (now Artscape).
Tartuffe “explores the themes of hypocrisy, the abuse of power disguised as piety to exploit the kindness and gullibility of others,” reflects Strike.
Tartuffe is subtitled The Impostor, or The Hypocrite. “Tartuffe is a recognised pseudonym for these vices”. Following its first performance in 1664, Tartuffe was censored by King Louis XIV.
Craig Morris plays Tartuffe. He messes psychologically with Orgon (McCarthy) – who is gullible and impressionable – and manipulated by the scheming Tartuffe.
What prompted McCarthy – who was a sensation in the 1980s and 1990s – to go back on stage?
“I’ve always known that my early work as an actor has informed the other creative jobs I have had. When I dream I am still an actor… This offer from Sylvaine came along. I found it impossible to resist the temptation to see if that part of me was still alive. I think I’ve found it is.”
Stepping from behind the scenes onto stage has been “quite narcotic”, he admits.
“It’s not for nothing these are called plays… the ability to play is central to making them come to life. It’s a very rare thing to be given a licence to play as an adult. I think my years of working at the business end of TV have made me appreciate that even more.”
“My character, Orgon, is not very bright, but has a deep need for respect from others and for a sense of meaning and purpose in his existence. All of this, the impostor Tartuffe exploits in order to rob him of his dignity and his wealth.”
The play reverberates in reference to our contemporary world. “I think that need for purpose and meaning is as strong now as it ever was, plus you could say that the average voter’s ability to interrogate and contextualise the offers made to him or her by the players asking for their love and support has been eroded by all the noise and distraction of the modern world.
“We have nations of Orgons led by political Tartuffes… Even though we are aware of their emptiness we seem unable to shake them from their podiums. A lighthearted lesson in how this trick is pulled, might be just what we need.”
McCarthy is delighted to be working with Strike who has con- jured up a vivid re-imagining of Tartuffe.
The text has been left intact, but Strike has made some changes.
“I wanted to set Tartuffe in a garden and not in an apartment as is specified by Molière,” she says.
“The themes of Tartuffe are very real. They deal with hypocrisy, swindling, using power to abuse others, abusing people’s gullibility and kindness for self-gain, (sound familiar?). I have taken poetic licence and changed the ending to suit our time – all visually.
“I believe it is an ending Molière would have approved of but was never allowed to pen as he was in enough trouble with the church. I chose to set this in the 1930s-1940s. I love this period aesthetically. I felt that it resonated with our current times in that there is a feeling of despair in the global air.”
Tickets for Tartuffe are R110-R160. Bookings at www.computicket.com or 0861 915 8000.