A crooked tale

NETC's Tartuffe plays like the impostor

by Steve Vineberg

TARTUFFE By Molière. Translated by Richard Wilbur. Directed by Bill Sigalis. Set designed by Tom Saupé. Costumes by Kristen Paquette. Lighting by Christopher Gates. With Steve Gould, Bill Taylor, Karen Ludington, Anthony Morin, Aimee S. Bel D'Agostino, Kelli Putnam Deliso, Mark Siagh, Matthew J. Carr, and Sally G. Earle. A New England Theatre Company production, at Anna Maria College, Paxton, through February 1.

Tartuffe, Molière's attack on religious hypocrisy, is arguably his most compelling and incisive play. In the late '80s, in the wake of the Jim Bakker scandal, it received a raft of productions across the country -- all in modern dress, with fundamentalist Tartuffes holding sway over credulous Orgons. The current New England Theatre Company revival has a contemporary setting, too, but despite the strains of "Give Me that Old Time Religion" at the top of the show, its Tartuffe (played by Steve Gould) is Catholic. Bill Sigalis's production emphasizes the aristocratic milieu of Molière's play. Tartuffe infiltrates a highly respectable family and convinces its patriarch, Orgon (Bill Taylor), and his obstinate, self-righteous mother (Sally G. Earle) that they have lost their spirituality in an increasingly secularized world. Molière doesn't tell us how he accomplishes it -- presumably by a combination of charisma and guilt. What he shows us are the consequences: Orgon turns his fortune over to this pious fraud, deeds him his house, promises him he can marry his daughter, and puts his wife directly in the way of Tartuffe's lust.

Sigalis's ambitious production is a worthy try at an exceedingly difficult play. He's chosen the famous (and delightful) Richard Wilbur translation, which is in rhymed couplets and so imposes an extra layer of challenge on contemporary American actors. And the company does a creditable job with the verse -- especially Gould, Earle, Karen Ludington as Orgon's patient wife, Elmire, and Tom Saupé in the small role of M. Loyal. The actors are lively and superbly clothed (the costumes are credited to Kristen Paquette) and the staging is often clever. The most imaginatively -- and hilariously -- staged scene is the second-act mock seduction, where Elmire, to prove to her husband that Tartuffe is a hypocrite, hides him under the table while she allows the self-ordained minister to believe she reciprocates his affections. Sigalis provides one puzzling moment: the appearance of the king's messenger (Linda Cross Saupé) in the final scene, in full-blown 17th-century dress. (Molière wrote the play between 1664 and 1669.) It's a startling post-modern touch, but I have no idea what it's supposed to mean.

The problem with this Tartuffe is that Sigalis is a better technical and conceptual director than he is an actor's director. Overall, the style of the performances falters, despite the obvious commitment of the actors. Molière's plays are strange animals for modern actors to tame: pungent satirical comedies built on commedia dell' arte farces, they juxtapose moderate, recognizable human behavior with the purely outrageous. Sigalis realizes that you can't play them naturalistically; Orgon stays under that table far longer than any husband would, evidently because the scene is so much funnier that way. But allowing so many of his performers to mug isn't the answer; it's wearying, especially in an already long first act. Bill Taylor and Kelli Putnam Deliso (as the smart-mouthed maid, Dorine) are the worst offenders. Taylor's shtick doesn't have much connection to his lines, and Deliso puts quotation marks around everything she says.

Steve Gould is a talented actor, well-cast as Tartuffe, but his performance needs more variety; he makes too many obvious choices. Gould is younger and more handsome than most Tartuffes I've seen, but he and Sigalis don't take advantage of those qualities; it might be fun to have a sexy Tartuffe rather than just a horny one. Anthony Morin as the hotheaded son Damis (whose name is mispronounced throughout the show: it's meant to rhyme with "peace"), Aimee S. Bel D'Agostino as the put-upon daughter Marianne, Mark Siagh as her suitor Valère, and Matthew J. Carr as Elmire's reasonable but sententious brother Cléante all work hard to find some balance between the moderate and the outrageous. Sally G. Earle is an effective Mme. Pernelle, and Karen Ludington plays Elmire with grace and intelligence. The performance is praiseworthy in many respects, not the least of which is NETC's choice to produce a great but tricky classic piece -- and not just to produce it, but to think its way through the text. NETC's Tartuffe may be flawed, but it's honest work.