Media Release
“Can’t you spot the difference between a hypocrite and a saint?”
– Cleante, Tartuffe
For the first time in its history Bell Shakespeare will stage Molière’s classic playful comedy Tartuffe, using the modern and very Australian
version by playwright Justin Fleming.
Directed by Bell Shakespeare’s Co-Artistic Director Peter Evans, this production will be performed exclusively in Sydney during July and
August 2014 and will star Leon Ford, Kate Mulvany and Sean O’Shea .
An extraordinarily funny rhyming farce, Tartuffe is a play about a conman who works his way into the home of a wealthy family with the
grand plan of stringing them along until they give him anything he wants, including his wife.
As the play begins, the master of the house, Orgon, has met Tartuffe, a mere vagrant masquerading as a religious zealot. Convinced he
is a man of great sacred wisdom, he welcomes him into his home. Orgon begins to adhere to Tartuffe’s every whim, believing he is his
saviour. But Tartuffe is actually scheming to steal Orgon’s home, daughter and even his wife.
Orgon’s family and friends are not fooled by Tartuffe’s antics; in fact they detest him, and so devise a plan to trap Tartuffe into confessing
his master plan and desires for Orgon’s wife.
“While extraordinarily wealthy, the father is still searching for something and is therefore willing to believe this hustler,” said Evans. “It’s a
wonderful comedy about a family that struggles to convince a deluded father not give everything away to his guru.”
A play about religious hypocrisy and cultish behaviours, Tartuffe is filled with seduction, cynicism and deception. “I’m particularly
interested in the manipulation of people’s desire to be good and be seen as good,” said Evans, whose interpretation will be, “a very
contemporary, very Sydney show.”
Fleming’s version of Tartuffe, like The School For Wives, which Bell Shakespeare toured in 2012 to rave reviews and packed houses, is
again written in 12-syllable lines of rhyming couplets, and is very Australian. “It’s respectful, but irreverent,” said Evans.
“Seeing Modern English verse plays in Australia is unusual, but audiences delight in it,” Evans said. “We are a language company, so to
step outside of Shakespeare we seek out plays that have incredible text and Fleming’s Tartuffe is just that.”
Covering themes of family, love, forgiveness, truth, fidelity, the male mid-life crisis and deceit, Tartuffe is still as relevant today as when
Molière wrote it in 1664.
A riotous night at the theatre, Tartuffe will be playing exclusively in Sydney at Sydney Opera House runs from 30 July to 23 August.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Prue Vercoe, Publicity Manager
P: 02 8298 9063, M: 0410 541 663 | E: [email protected] | W: bellshakespeare.com.au
Media Release
By Molière
A new version by Justin Fleming
Director Peter Evans
Designer Anna Cordingley
Design Associate Kate Aubrey
Lighting Designer Paul Jackson
Composer Kelly Ryall
Movement Director Scott Witt
Assistant Director Susanna Dowling
Sydney
Previews: 26, 27 & 29 July
Season: 30 July – 23 August
Sydney Opera House, Drama Theatre
Bookings: sydneyoperahouse.com, 02 9250 7777
Duration 2hours, 30min
Bell Season packages bellshakespeare.com.au
Single tickets go on sale 4 November 2013
Tickets $35-$79 (transaction fees may apply)
With
Tartuffe Leon Ford
Orgon Sean O’Shea
Elmire Helen Dallimore
Mariane Geraldine Hakewill
Dorine Kate Mulvany
Damis Charlie Garber
Valere Tom Hobbs
Madame Pernelle Jennifer Hagan
Cleante Robert Jago
Monsieur Loyal Russell Smith
Figure In Judgement Scott Witt
MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Prue Vercoe, Publicity Manager
P: 02 8298 9063, M: 0410 541 663 | E: [email protected] | W: bellshakespeare.com.au