The PlayFinder™

THE STORY: The prosperous Orgon is plagued by insecurities, and the growing independence of his family isn’t helping. Tartuffe is, though. This strict religious counselor has moved into the household to lay down the law. At least that’s how he represents his actions. The family’s fight against his tyranny—despite servant Dorine’s raucous outspokenness, daughter Mariane’s tearful resistance, second wife Elmire’s elegant strategems, brother-in-law Cleante’s reasoned arguments, and son Damis’ near-mayhem—at last seems lost, and the loathsome Bible-thumper seems about to take all for himself. The 1669 version of the play that history has left us brings in Louis XIV to save the day, but informed consensus says that Molière’s censored 1664 version, now lost, ended very differently. This new translation/adaptation shows another way things might have gone. A fresh, funny, venturesome approach to a hilarious and ever-timely classic.