Vices, Vanities Staged Under the Trees

Greed and manipulation have been around as long as there have been human beings on earth. 

If you think there’s nothing droll about watching a hypocrite, think again: you’ll be very entertained by Molière’s wickedly funny play currently mounted at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga. 

Tartuffe, ou l’Imposteur remains one of the funniest and most scathing commentaries ever written on human greed and the using of others for one’s own benefit.  Considered by many to be his best work, Molière’s rich comic genius is epitomized in the character of the 17^th Century con artist whose excessively cultured manners and religious devotion mask his true aim–to defraud a naïve gentleman, seduce his wife, marry his daughter, and steal the deed to an elegant estate.

First presented in 1664 at the court of King Louis XIV at Versailles, Tartuffe was promptly condemned by the Catholic Church for its audacious attack on religious hypocrisy and banned from production.  After much petitioning by the playwright, the ban was lifted and Tartuffe has stood the test of time, enduring as Molière’s most popular play.

That’s the part that director Ellen Geer loves best about her adaptation at Botanicum Theatricum, at which she is also artistic director. “At each performance, we’ll have an audience member play King Louis,” she laughs. “Well crown him, and then Molière will start the play speaking his own words to the King. This puts the play in a context that’s fun to know, namely that after Tartuffe was banned in 1667 the King granted Molière the right to produce it again. The play was, and is to this day, an overwhelming success and one of Molière’s most frequently performed.”

Geer also composed original songs, with lyrics by Peter Alsop, and arrangement by Cody T. Gillette for her production.  Tartuffe runs through October 1 as part of Theatricum’s “Outdoors & Inspired” Summer Repertory Season. Every Friday in September, audiences are invited to feast on a 6:30 p.m. French Provencal buffet dinner in the theater’s adjacent gardens, followed by an 8 p.m. performance (Separate admission, or combination packages are available.)

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin de Molière (1622-1673), left home to become an actor in 1643. He co-founded the troupe known as the Illustre Theatre and toured the French provinces from1645 through 1658, writing and acting in plays.

After his troupe was established in a permanent theatre in Paris under the patronage of Louis XIV, he won acclaim at court and among the bourgeois audiences for his comedies. Those plays comprise a portrait of all levels of 17^th Century French society and are marked by their good-humored and intelligent mockery of human vices, vanities and follies.

Molière conceived of satire as a public mirror provoking dynamic exchanges with the social classes of the era who were obsessed with their own images and enraged by his accurate depictions. He is considered the greatest French dramatist and the father of modern French comedy.

The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, terraced into the hillside of a rustic canyon, is located at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Topanga, midway between the San Fernando Valley and Malibu. For tickets and information go to theatricum.com or call 310-455-3723.