‘Tartuffe: Born Again’: Molière shows crooks and fraudsters will always be with us

David DeSantos and Michelle Jasso / Ian Flanders

TOPANGA, Calif. – Can we even imagine a world without crooks, fraudsters, hucksters, impostors, scam artists, snake oil purveyors, narcissists, cheats, grifters, and hypocrites? Probably not. The best antidote against them is an educated population attuned to their tricks and wiles who will be able to quickly recognize when a con artist is trying to bamboozle them. The rise of AI suggests that ever inventive methods are being devised as we speak. The entire weight of a society’s legal and judicial institutions will be required to deal with each new variation as it comes along.

The old standard of capturing the public’s following and money through false prophets is still very much with us, and faux populist politicians have learned their lessons well from them. One can even see presidential aspirants in America publishing their own patriotic, overpriced versions of the Bible just to promote their campaigns and rake in precious dollars.

Satire is the chosen weapon artists have turned to when they want to alert the public to such malfeasants among us. The French baroque-era playwright Molière (artistic name for Jean Baptiste Poquelin) was 42 years old in 1664 when he premiered his play Tartuffe, exposing the exploits of religious evangelists who used the fear of eternal damnation to sell their own particular brand of salvation. Immediately after the first performance, King Louis XIV banned it on demand of the French Roman Catholic Church, whose authorities feared the play would pull the veil of sanctity off its face and persuade the public to reject religion. Molière answered, saying, “The duty of Comedy is to correct men by entertaining them.”

A modern-day adaptation of Tartuffe is now on view at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, and it is poetic, entertaining, hilarious, and prescient. In a centuries-long tradition of presenting this play in almost every language on Earth and set in any number of locales and historical eras, Tartuffe: Born Again’s translator and adaptor Freyda Thomas puts a contemporary spin on the story. Our Tartuffe is a defrocked televangelist in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the 1980s, who has taken advantage of his naïve, gullible host (Orgon) to relieve him and his family of their property and money.

As this is a comedy, all ends well—at least “until the next Tartuffe is born again.” But oh, what a wild ride to get us through to the satisfying dénouement! And what imaginative rhymes Thomas comes up with to tell the playwright’s story in amusing couplets that never cease to astound and delight with their fresh piquancy. “I’ve got him on a leash,” Tartuffe recites of his prey, “I love to stick it to the nouveau riche.”

Melora Marshall directs a large cast that includes a number of Theatricum Botanicum stalwarts. An oily David DeSantos headlines in the smarmy title role, while Lynn Robert Berg stars as the stubborn family patriarch Orgon. Michelle Jasso plays his beautiful wife Elmire; Jonathan Blandino plays Elmire’s brother Cleante. Cynthia Kania is Orgon’s mother, Mrs. Pernell; Isabel Stallings is Orgon’s daughter Maryann, and Jon Sprik is his son Damis. Maryann’s love interest is Valere, played by Ethan Haslam. The brilliant Tanya Alexander is Dorine, Orgon’s servant who is truly a majordomo savant, the single most alert member of the household in an ongoing tradition (think Figaro) of working-class characters who are more clever and conscious than their masters; she warns Maryann that unless she resists her father’s wishes, she will soon be “Tartuffellated.” Company members Blaire Battle, Ted Dane, Shoshanna Green, Rebecca Oca-Nussbaum, Sky Wahl, and Timothy Willard fill out the minor roles.

“How do you stop an invasive, cultish worm who uses lies of Biblical proportions to wind his way into your family life, your town, your city…our country?” asks Theatricum artistic director Ellen Geer. Parallels to any contemporary maggots are entirely intentional, and unmistakable as Tartuffe appears in the final scene in a dark suit with a long bright red tie as the angel of justice finally catches up with him. There was no voting in King Louis’ France, but it’s one mechanism we have today for dealing with someone, like this blond-bewigged Tartuffe, convicted of seven counts of fraud, diversion of funds, fraud, extortion, and income tax evasion.

Set and props are by Ian Geatz, lighting is by Hayden Kirschbaum and costumes are by Vicki Conrad. Music compilation, arrangements, and composition as well as sound design are by Marshall McDaniel and Kellen McDaniel, who also created and produced the videos alongside assistant director Berber Heerema. Beth Eslick is the wardrobe supervisor and Amayah Watson is the assistant stage manager. The production stage manager is Karen Osborne.

Tartuffe: Born Again runs in rotation through October 13, alongside performances of the other plays this season: The Winter’s Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Wendy’s Peter Pan. Joining the repertory season on August 24 will be The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote, a new political comedy by Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award-winning playwright Bernardo Cubría. For out-of-towners who might enjoy an all-Theatricum binge, they can see all five plays in repertory in a single weekend once they are all up and running. For the complete schedule, go to the Theatricum website.

A prologue (pre-show discussion) will take place on Sun., Aug. 11 from 6:30 to 7 p.m. Pay What You Will ticket pricing is available for the performance on Mon., Sept. 9 (tickets may be purchased online one week prior to the performance, or cash at the door).

The amphitheater is terraced into the hillside, so audience members are advised to dress casually (warmly for evenings) and bring cushions for bench seating. Patrons are welcome to arrive early to picnic in the gardens before a performance.

Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Topanga, midway between Malibu and the San Fernando Valley. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 455-3723 or visit theatricum.com.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Eric A. Gordon

Eric A. Gordon, People’s World Cultural Editor, wrote a biography of radical American composer Marc Blitzstein and co-authored composer Earl Robinson’s autobiography. He has received numerous awards for his People's World writing from the International Labor Communications Association. He has translated all nine books of fiction by Manuel Tiago (pseudonym for Álvaro Cunhal) from Portuguese, available from International Publishers NY.