"Tartuffe"

August 10, 2010 — Could I relate to "Tartuffe," a 17th Century play by Moliere? I'm more at home with "Bye Bye Birdie," "Hair" and Agatha Christie mysteries, plays I can understand. True, I enjoy Shakespeare, but explanations of the bard's works abound. He's familiar. We see his plays over and over. We studied him in high school. Moliere plays are rarely staged anywhere any more. We know little about him. And the 17th Century is so...so...well, so 17th Century.

"Tartuffe," as presented by the Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire, translated from the French by artistic director Gus Kaikkonen, is above all hilariously funny, but also completely relevant to 21st Century sensibilities. Spoken in rhyming verse by a cast of New Hampshire's best actors decked out in splendid 17th Century French costumes, with a bit of slapstick now and then, and some occasional present-day slang thrown in, the play pillories religious hypocrisy. When the play was first staged in 1664, Louis XIV loved it, but banned it anyway when the Archbishop of Paris threatened to excommunicate anyone who performed in it.

There's an enormous amount of dialog in the play which the actors pulled off without a hitch for the most part, but there were a few uncomfortably long pauses that may have been deliberate, but could just as well have been caused by someone forgetting their lines. But that's a minor complaint. Kaikkonen's translation, great comic performances by Players regulars Ian Merrill Peakes, Lisa Bostnar, David Haugen, Carmen Decker, Dale Hodges, Karen Peakes and a terrific supporting cast made for a wonderfully entertaining evening.