Rachel Botchan and Bradford Cover
Photo by Gregory Costanzo
It takes guts for anyone underwhelmed by Shakespeare to admit “I Hate Hamlet!”
And it’s almost as big a struggle to confess that after viewing The Pearl Theatre Company’s production of Moliere’s groundbreaking – and in many ways still relevant – farce Tartuffe, the problem might be the play itself, as blasphemous as that is to say.
Despite the best efforts of a strong team, the Pearl’s production of this once-shocking piece (1664) doesn’t quite work, even though, justifiably, the title character, a faux pious pauper who insinuates himself into the home of a vain, wealthy man, has become as synonymous with religious hypocrisy as Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt with small-town boosterism. Tartuffe emerges as a distractingly didactic play about religious hypocrisy, despite Moliere’s abundant wit and ageless wisdom.
This is unfortunate, because sanctimonious killjoys are just as common today as during the reign of Louis XIV, when Moliere created this work, a point director Gus Kaikkohen brings out in a nice bit of business. In a nod to John Ashcroft and prigs of all nations, Kila Packett (in the non-speaking role of Tartuffe’s servant) spends several scenes covering all the “juicy bits” of set’s background tapestries with scraps of fabric.
Tartuffe the play moves swiftly, generates laughs and makes its point well, but suffers from largely undeveloped characters (usually acceptable in farce) and the predictable structure of a Regent’s essay, stating and restating its points with numbing regularity. It amuses, but offers no surprises, and while there’s joy in the antihero’s eventual come-uppance, we definitely see it coming.
It begins with the crotchety Mme. Pernelle (a tart Carol Schultz) chastising her son Orgon’s family for their lavish lifestyle, while praising her offspring and his fast-rising protégé Tartuffe, a beggar who insinuated himself into Orgon’s family while conspicuously praying beside them in church. A heavy-handed device, Schultz’s “Dowager Back-story” more than sets the scene, providing all the audience needs to know (and then some) about Tartuffe’s grip on this unfortunate family, returning in the play’s final minutes to share her son’s comeuppance.
Thoroughly conned, Orgon gradually turns over his house, fortune and (almost) his lovely daughter’s hand to the sly hypocrite, before his sensible wife Elmire manages to turn their houseguest’s unbridled lust against Tartuffe.
By the time Orgon’s eyes are opened, it appears all is lost (Tartuffe has everything in writing), before the last minute intervention by the king saves the day and the manipulative hypocrite is hauled off to prison.
The Usual Suspects Deliver.
While the cast of Pearl regulars more than masters its various roles, some are more up to the challenge of Moliere’s verse (translated by Richard Wilbur) than others. Frequently striking Christ-on-the-cross poses, Bradford Cover’s Tartuffe is appropriately slimy and unkempt, a mesmeric figure – a poor man’s Rasputin capable of deceiving all but the most discerning. Rachel Botchan as Elmire and Dominic Cuskern as her brother – admirable composites of sophistication, kindness and common sense – shine. The lovely Bothcan masters the verse while conveying a sense of approachable beauty, while Cuskern (with a voice bears a strong similarity to F. Murray Abraham’s) conveys the right measure of aristocratic wisdom and ennui.
In a pivotal role, TJ Edwards fails to make the underwritten dupe Orgon convincing, while as the family’s sass-mouthed maid Dorine, Robin Leslie Brown (memorable as the title character in 2003’s Daisy Mayme) excels as a knockabout comedian, but struggles when delivering some of her character’s wisecracks in verse.
Even when the production falls short, an evening at the Pearl Theatre is always enjoyable, for the sheer enthusiasm of its skilled ensemble, and the intelligence and commitment the company brings to its wide-ranging selection of plays.
From Greek classics to unjustly forgotten gems of the 20th Century (including works by George Kelly and S.N Behrman) the Pearl never shies away from a challenge and often willfully casts a broad net. Case in point, next up for the company is Tennessee Williams’ seldom-revived late work, Vieux Carre, opening in May.
Tartuffe, the 4th of The Pearl’s 5 productions for the 2008-09 Season runs through Sunday, April 19th.
Pearl Theater, 80 St. Marks Place 212 589 9802