Tartuffe. nationaltheatre.org.uk

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1 NT Education Workpack Tartuffe The play2 Introduction 2 Synopsis 2 nationaltheatre.org.uk Interviews 4 Interview with director Lindsay Posner 4 Conversations with the cast 6 Discussion and practical exercises 8 Written work and research 9 Martin Chamberlain Melanie Clark Pullen Nicholas Day Scott Frazer Debra Gillett Tom Goodman-Hill Sarah Hay Suzanne Heathcote Richard Hollis Clare Holman Andrew McDonald Marianne Morley Nick Sampson David Threlfall Sam Troughton Margaret Tyzack Julian Wadham Deborah Winckles Director Lindsay Posner Designer Ashley Martin-Davis Lighting Designer Wolfgang Goebbel Music Gary Yershon Director of Movement Jane Gibson Sound Designer Christopher Shutt Sponsored by Lyttelton Theatre, 5 March 2002 Poster: photo of by Mike Smallcombe, background photo by Richard Jenkins, designed by Michael Mayhew, printed by J&P Atchison Royal National Theatre (registered charity) Royal National Theatre South Bank, London SE by Molière in a new translation by Ranjit Bolt Tartuffe by Molière in a new translation by Ranjit Bolt Further production details: Director Lindsay Posner Designer Ashley Martin-Davis Lighting Designer Wolfgang Goebbel Music Gary Yershon Sound Designer Christopher Shutt NT Education National Theatre South Bank London SE1 9PX T F E education@ nationaltheatre.org.uk Workpack written by Christopher Campbell, an actor and translator. He is Senior Reader at the National Theatre and prepared the literal translation of Tartuffe. Editor Dinah Wood Design Alexis Bailey Patrick Eley

2 The play, David Threlfall Introduction How many foreign, non anglophone, playwrights are regularly performed on the British stage? Brecht? Ibsen? One play by Pirandello? How many have survived over three centuries? Racine just. Corneille very occasionally. And of course Jean- Baptiste Poquelin, Molière, whose major plays show no sign of fading and whose characters mutate and adapt in such a way that they always seem to look like our contemporaries. In 1664, when Tartuffe was first performed, there were calls for it to be banned and for Molière to be executed. In spite of almost excessive efforts in the text to deny it, the play was seen by many not as an attack on religious hypocrisy, but as an attack on religion itself. The National s 2002 production was conceived at a time when it was still possible to doubt the possibility of such a reaction. We relish the play nowadays for its central character and its comic set-pieces. Tartuffe has come to stand for generalised self-interested hypocrisy and the religious aspect seems less dangerous. By the time it opened, questions about the relationship between religion and religious fervour, and religious hypocrisy had become topical and powerfully charged once more. Synopsis Orgon is a wealthy merchant. He has taken into his household Tartuffe, an apparently devout and holy man whom he has met at church. Although Orgon s mother, Madame Pernelle, is greatly taken with the new guest, the rest of the household find him repellent and are certain that he is a fraud. Madame Pernelle condemns the rest of the family and contrasts their dissolute ways with the reverence and good conduct of Tartuffe. Orgon has promised his daughter Mariane to Valère. Orgon s son, Damis, wants the marriage to go ahead because he is himself in love with Valère s sister. Damis is convinced that Tartuffe is opposing the match for his own reasons and he asks Cléante, Orgon s brother-in-law, to intervene. When we first meet Orgon he is indeed besotted with Tartuffe. The maid, Dorine, tells him how ill his second wife, Elmire, has been but he is concerned only for Tartuffe s well being. When Cléante reminds him of his promise to Valère, he is evasive and shifty. In fact, Orgon has decided to marry Mariane to Tartuffe. When he tells her she is aghast. Dorine lists all the reasons she can think of why the marriage would be a certain disaster but Orgon is stubbornly determined. When Mariane says that she cannot disobey her father, Dorine is harsh and ironic, preaching revolt and resistance. When Valère learns of Mariane s inclination to obey her father he is furious and the lovers quarrel until Dorine knocks their heads together. They agree that Mariane will pretend to accept Orgon s decision while they plan some way of escape. When Damis hears about all this, he is all for direct physical assault on Tartuffe. Dorine persuades him to leave things to Elmire, who seems to have made quite an impression on Tartuffe. At last, in the second scene of Act III, the much discussed figure of Tartuffe makes his entrance. He sternly reproves Dorine for her looseness but when Elmire comes on he seems to soften. As Elmire attempts to speak about Mariane s marriage, Tartuffe reveals that it is Elmire herself that he desires. Elmire promises not to mention this outburst to Orgon in exchange for Tartuffe s support for the young couple. Damis has overheard all this and informs Orgon straightaway. Orgon doesn t believe him and Tartuffe defends himself with such a show of pious humility that Orgon banishes and disinherits Damis national theatre education workpack 2

3 The play, David Threlfall while confirming his intention to give Mariane to Tartuffe. Once left alone with Orgon, Tartuffe reproaches himself for the trouble he has caused amongst the family and announces that he feels he should leave. Orgon begs him to stay, saying that he will make him his sole heir as well as son-in-law, and in fact that he will hand over all his worldly goods. Cléante begs Tartuffe to help reconcile father and son but Tartuffe contemptuously refuses. Mariane implores Orgon to let her enter a convent rather than marry Tartuffe. Cléante urges him to see reason. Elmire recounts how Tartuffe tried to seduce her. Orgon is deaf to everything. Finally, Elmire offers to prove her story. Orgon conceals himself under a table and Elmire summons Tartuffe. She seems prepared to listen to his suit. At first cautiously, but with increasing confidence, Tartuffe brushes her religious and moral scruples aside and demands immediate sex. When Orgon reveals himself in fury, Tartuffe calmly informs him that since the house is now his, it is Orgon who must leave. Orgon tells a dumbfounded Elmire about how he came to make over all his goods to Tartuffe. He also expresses worry about a mysterious casket. Orgon explains to Cléante that the casket contains potentially treasonous papers belonging to an old friend. Enraged now with Tartuffe, Orgon curses religion and the religious. Cléante points out that this is simply an equal and opposite mistake. The important thing is to know the false from the true. Madame Pernelle is still reluctant to believe ill of Tartuffe, doubting even the evidence of her son s eyes. However, a bailiff arrives on behalf of Tartuffe, giving the whole family twenty-four hours notice to quit. In the confusion and panic, Valère arrives with the news that Tartuffe has indeed handed the incriminating casket to the authorities. He offers Orgon money and his coach to escape. Before Orgon can take up this offer, Tartuffe arrives with an Officer, apparently to arrest him. To everyone s amazement, the Officer turns on Tartuffe. The King it seems has seen through him and pardons Orgon s indiscretion over the casket in return for previous services rendered. Tartuffe is unmasked as a notorious impostor and leaves for prison. national theatre education workpack 3

4 Interviews Clare Holman, Interview with director, Lindsay Posner Christopher Campbell What made you want to direct Tartuffe? Lindsay Posner I already had a taste for Molière from directing Misanthrope at the Young Vic. I enjoy the challenge of the verse and the complexity of the characterisation. I m fascinated by the fusion which Molière manages of commedia dell arte with psychological realism. The play seemed pertinent because of the resurgence of fundamentalism in the world. This was before the New York attacks? Oh, yes. The play also has one of the greatest comic scenes in all drama - Orgon under the table while Tartuffe tries to have sex with Elmire. I remember we had conversations early on about other possible settings for the play. We considered an Islamic setting. The Orthodox Jewish community was mentioned as a possibility. We thought about a Mafia family set-up or a Royal family perhaps. All of these had a certain appeal but equally they all had drawbacks. We felt it important that Tartuffe should be a hypocritical variation on an accepted mainstream social position, so that setting the action in a minority community in Britain seemed wrong. Also, it s essential to the plot that Orgon can command his daughter s obedience and that she can see the justice of such a demand. And she offers to give up money and position to avoid marrying Tartuffe so it has to be more than just that. And of course, we had already cast to play Tartuffe. We had to consider whether it would be useful to dress him as a Mullah or a Rabbi and we thought probably not! Did anything in your approach change after the New York attacks? No. The relevance was clear, but I had no wish to exploit it. My view was that the relevance was already there. The days afterwards did revive the real religion v hypocrisy debate though. Yes, suddenly the great long speeches which Cléante has making it clear that Tartuffe is an attack on a perverse and dishonest man rather than on genuine religious feeling those speeches sounded very like things which were being said by politicians every day; These people do not represent the real face of a great and tolerant religion, and so on. The neon lettering on the set was a post September 11 idea. Did you feel that rehearsals were on track from the start or did you take any wrong turnings? Mostly on track. Molière is not really interested in psychological motivation, only in its effects. national theatre education workpack 4

5 Interviews At first we had Orgon too far gone in his obsession right from the start. We altered that once we had worked through to the end. Did the verse give any problems? Verse can encourage coasting from actors. It was very important always to keep it alive and supported. During the run, in fact, they didn t coast but I pretended that they did from time to time so I could warn them about it and then they wouldn t! I had to convince the actors that the audience could be engaged by argument. There are some long speeches and the actor has to have confidence that they will hold the audience s attention. anywhere between comedy seduction and fairly brutal attempted rape. And, of course, there s pressure in playing a character which is well known as one of the great comic creations. What if nobody laughs? If you were to direct the play again now, would you do it differently? I think I would set it elsewhere and make it darker. We did succeed in making it a vital piece of theatre. The play was a great and theatrical success, with no inhibiting reverence. This was a choice I made this time, partly influenced by the mood of Ranjit Bolt s translation. In the world as it is now, I think I d make it darker. How was to work with? He was a little nervous at the start of rehearsals. Partly, I think, just through long absence from the stage. And there are so many choices to be made about how you play the character; so much which isn t in the text. How much is he wearing a mask? How consciously? How polite is he? How obviously hypocritical? All of this is open to argument and has to be decided in the end. The great scene with Orgon under the table, for example, can be pitched national theatre education workpack 5

6 Interviews Conversations with the cast Do you see Tartuffes in the world around you? DAVID THRELFALL (Orgon) Yes. When I play a part it heightens my awareness of the type of person I m playing. Like looking for a new car, deciding you want a VW, and saying, Aren t there a lot of VWs around? CLARE HOLMAN (Elmire) Not really, but some people I know have become very interested in Gurus of the humanist/hippy kind. SAM TROUGHTON (Valère) They probably don t stand out so much today because hypocrisy seems to be accepted amongst our leaders! MARGARET TYZACK (Madame Pernelle) Tartuffes are confidence tricksters and if successful are never caught so, no. Do you have a favourite scene? SCOTT FRAZER (Laurent) I always watch the Tartuffe/Cléante exchange over the dinner table from the wings. They both play it so masterfully and pursue their own motives. And watching Martin eat that chicken is hysterical! DEBRA GILLET (Dorine) I enjoy Act II because it s an entire story in itself. I love playing it and having so much to say! SAM TROUGHTON I ve loved doing Valère s argument with Marianne, but I did watch Martin in his nappy every night, so it would have to be the trapping of Tartuffe. NICHOLAS DAY (M. Loyal) Mine. Is there a scene, or a moment, which you struggled to make work? NICHOLAS DAY Mine. CLARE HOLMAN Act III, the first scene with Tartuffe. Elmire says very little whilst being the object of desire the less I did the better it became but at first I felt I had to keep responding with faces to Tartuffe s long speeches. DEBRA GILLET Still struggling! The and Tartuffe? Poor man! sequence in Act I when Orgon ignores the news of his wife s illness and worries about the perfectly healthy Tartuffe. It s clearly a commedia comedy moment that doesn t quite work now. Both David and I feel the audience is a little let down by the routine at that moment. SAM TROUGHTON Valère s false exits during the argument were difficult to find in the rehearsal room, but once we had an audience they took care of themselves. national theatre education workpack 6

7 Interviews JULIAN WADHAM (Cléante) Cléante s debate in the first half about real and feigned piety. I struggled at first to balance the arguments and turn them. Unless you get behind the argument, the speech is a long and meaningless ramble. Do you have a favourite line your own or someone else s? SAM TROUGHTON Valère to Dorine We ll leave no avenue untried! My God! I m glad you re on our side! Just good fun to say it. NICHOLAS DAY Why is matricide a crime? CLARE HOLMAN And now you re rushing to the sweet Before you ve had the soup and meat! As Tartuffe rummages beneath Elmire s dress JULIAN WADHAM I won t be slow when vengeance calls Not now I ve got him by the Wait! Clare Holman, DEBRA GILLETT You re to be Tartufified! national theatre education workpack 7

8 Discussion & practical exercises David Threlfall, Clare Holman, For discussion In what other setting might you stage Tartuffe? What would be gained? What might be lost? Is it possible to aim criticisms at a religious hypocrite without also being seen to criticise religion? Why do you think Molière himself chose to play Orgon rather than Tartuffe? Or to put it another way; who is the play about? Why do we enjoy watching the progress of a hypocritical deceiver? Practical exercises Decide on something you would like to do and then devise as many reasons as you can to persuade other people that it would be in their own best interests to let you do it. This is a very interesting exercise which examines why we believe some things and not others. Form a circle. Each member of the group is given a piece of paper with a number written on it from 1 to 10. The group is told that some of these numbers are written in blue and some in red. Nobody is to see anyone else s number. Each person has to tell the rest of the group some fact about their life. The number you have indicates the importance of the fact to the teller so if you have a 1, you might say what you had for breakfast while if you have a 10, you might relate your worst fear or happiest memory. Allow time for thought and preparation here. Questions will be asked about what each person decides to say, so they need to be ready. If your number is blue, the fact must be true. If it is red, then you must tell a lie. Make it clear to everyone that no one will be made to tell whether what they said was true or false at any time during the exercise or after it is over. Now go round the circle and get each person to give their fact or story. Once everyone has spoken, return to the first person and allow questions from anyone who wants to ask them. The group is trying to decide which stories they believe. Move on to the next person whenever you like. It is possible to get a show of hands from time to time to see whether there is consensus or even unanimity about certain stories. Try to avoid too adversarial an atmosphere. The interest is in why we believe or not. Is it because of the teller s manner? Our prior knowledge of them? The appropriateness of the purported fact to that particular teller? Preconceptions or prejudices? Don t necessarily come to definite conclusions. When the exercise appears to be more or less over, reveal that all the numbers were red (which they were). As the realisation sinks in that everyone has been lying throughout, revisit those stories which were most readily believed and look again at why. national theatre education workpack 8

9 Written work & research Written work Write a letter from Tartuffe to the King, explaining your innocence and the disgraceful way you have been treated by Orgon and his ungrateful, irreligious family. Write a script for Tartuffe to appear on daytime TV. Research There is surprisingly little biographical material about Molière in English. company. Their website is at They have an online shop from which a number of videos of Tartuffe, among others, can be ordered. Other useful sites The Life of Monsieur de Molière, by Mikhail Bulgakov, is a wonderfully readable short biography of the playwright. It is published in Mirra Ginsburg s English translation by New Directions (ISBN ) Many of the quotations which adorned the set were taken from the Maxims by La Rochefoucauld ( ) Published in English translation by Penguin (ISBN X). France s National Theatre company, the Comédie Française, was founded from Molière s own national theatre education workpack 9