Tartuffe

Molière, adapted by Constance Congdon from a literal prose translation by Virginia Scott

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Note

This title may also be purchased in the following bundle at 20% off the regular price: MOLIÈRE MASTER CLASS

Description

Constance Congdon’s witty verse adaptation of Molière’s timeless classic, in which a religious conman infiltrates the household of a gullible man and his exasperated family, has lent itself to productions set in modern-day Texas, New Orleans, and even The Sopranos’ New Jersey.

Production Info

Cast: 12 total (5 female, 7 male)
Full Length Drama (about 110 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
Categories: , Tags: ,
Reviews

Press Quotes

“Constance Congdon slips into Molière’s tricky shoes and the fit is Cinderella-perfect. Congdon’s quicksilver wit and breathless urgency coax the dark heart of Tartuffe into glowing with a twenty-first-century heat.” —John Guare

“[The] over-the-top setting for the Two River Theater production of TARTUFFE is a Texas McMansion decorated like a Disney theme park. A spiraling two-story staircase, its iron railing featuring a recurring motif of a lone star nestled in a spur, dominates the space. The sitting area below, done in high Louis-the-Something, has a damask sofa with silver Texas Ranger badges adorning its skirt and pony skin pillows propped in its corners. Looming above the stairwell, a huge cross, operated by remote control, awaits illumination. Eat your heart out, J. R. The director Jane Page has taken Constance Congdon’s new rhymed version of Molière’s 1664 satire, based on a translation by Virginia Scott, and plopped it down in Texas (somewhere near a Neiman Marcus, as the shopping bags attest) circa 2006. The conceit works wonderfully, with each of the playwright’s comically charged characters slipping naturally into twang and two-step … It all adds up to a fun-filled Texas-style branding, skewering and roasting of a villain everyone loves to hate. ” —Naomi Siegel, New York Times

About the Author

Author

  • Molière

    Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622 – 1673), known as Molière, was a French dramatist, director, and actor, and one of the world's greatest masters of comic satire. Of his nearly 40 plays, his most famous are TARTUFFE, THE MISER, THE LEARNED LADIES, THE MISANTHROPE, and THE IMAGINARY INVALID.

  • Constance Congdon

    Constance Congdon has been called "one of the best playwrights our country and our language has ever produced" by playwright Tony Kushner in Kushner's introduction to her collection TALES OF THE LOST FORMICANS AND OTHER PLAYS. In addition to TALES OF THE LOST FORMICANS, which has had more than 200 productions worldwide, Congdon's plays include: CASANOVA, DOG OPERA, NO MERCY, LOSING FATHER'S BODY, LIPS and NATIVE AMERICAN. PARADISE STREET, was produced in Los Angeles and Amherst. Three commissions from the American Conservatory Theater: A MOTHER, starring Olympia Dukakis, a new verse version of THE MISANTHROPE, and a new adaptation of THE IMAGINARY INVALID, were all produced by ACT. Also at ACT: MOONTEL SIX, a commission by the ACT Young Conservatory and subsequently performed at London's National Theatre, followed by another production of the two-act version at San Francisco's ZEUM. THE AUTOMATA PIETÀ, another YC commission, received its world premiere at San Francisco's Magic Theatre in 2002; NIGHTINGALES went to the Theatre Royale Bath's Youth Theatre. Congdon's NO MERCY, and its companion piece, ONE DAY EARLIER, were part of the 2000 season devoted to Congdon at the Profile Theatre. She has written a number of opera libretti and seven plays for the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis. THE CHILDREN OF THE ELVI, Congdon's epic and NOT suitable for children, play received its premiere at the Key City Public Theater in 2007. Congdon's plays have been produced throughout the world, including Cairo, Tokyo and Berlin. Her new verse version of TARTUFFE is in a single-volume Norton Critical edition and in the Norton Anthology of Drama. In 2013, Congdon was the Honored Playwright at the GPTC and had a fully-staged workshop of her play about the water crisis in the West, TAKE ME TO THE RIVER. Her recent play HAIR OF THE DOG is about Shakespeare and Marlowe. Her most recent play, ENEMY SKY, is about drones, Islamaphobia, and late-in-life love. Congdon has received three NEA grants, two Rockefeller grants (one for Bellagio), an Albert Sloan grants for TAKE ME TO THE RIVER, The Berilla Kerr Award, Helen Merrill Award, The Albert Weissberger Award, New York Newsday's Oppenheimer Award for Best New Play in NYC, New England Theater Conference Award for Distinguished Service to the Theater (2004), two Great Plains Theater Conference Awards, one for Distinguished Service to the Theater and the other as the 2013 Honored Playwright. She is an alumnus of New Dramatists, The Playwright's Center of Minneapolis, and a current member of The Dramatists Guild and PEN. Congdon has taught playwriting at the Yale School of Drama, but her home is as playwright-in-residence at Amherst College where she has taught playwriting for 25 years. Her work is published by Norton, TCG, Inc, but mostly by Broadway Play Publishing.

  • Virginia Scott

    Virginia Scott was Professor Emerita of Theatre at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She was a leading authority on early French and Italian theatre, whose books include The Commedia dell'Arte in Paris, Moliere: A Theatrical Life, and the award-winning Women on Staqe in Early Modern France. She was also noted for her translation of Moliere's plays, as well as a critical edition of Tartuffe. She was an experienced dramaturg and had written plays on such historical subjects as Joan of Arc and Marie Antoinette's hair-dresser.

About the Book

Book Information

Publisher BPPI
Publication Date 2/28/2014
Pages 86
ISBN 9780881453690

Special Notes

Special Notes

Licensees are required to include the original stage producers credits in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
The following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
Tartuffe is produced
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com

Productions

Upcoming and Recent Productions

Nonprofessional


3/17/2023 – 3/25/2023
Temple University Department Of Theater
Philadelphia, PA

9/16/2020 – 9/19/2020
Adrian College
Adrian, MI

11/14/2019 – 11/23/2019
Bellingham High School Drama
Bellingham, WA

11/8/2019 – 11/23/2019
Miller Theatre Complex, Robinson Theatre
Eugene, OR

2/15/2019 – 2/24/2019
Wake Forest University Theatre
Winston-Salem, NC

8/23/2018 – 8/25/2018
University Of Nebraska At Omaha
Omaha, NE

2/15/2018 – 2/18/2018
Concordia College Theater
Moorhead, MN

11/29/2017 – 12/3/2017
Division Of Theatre/southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX

10/13/2017 – 10/15/2017
Simpson College Theater
Indianola, IA