Press Club members and their guests are invited to attend a performance of Moliere's Tartuffe, a comic masterpiece, at Hedgerow Theatre on Thursday, October 24th, 2019 .
Special $20 Press Club member pricing.
($25 for non-members) includes pre-show BYOB reception with light fare provided.
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED BY October 15th.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Moliere’s comic masterpiece about an irreclaimable hypocrite – one of the greatest plays of all time. The pious Tartuffe is lodging with Orgon and his family, ingratiating himself with both his host and his host’s mother to such a degree that both are blinded to his true – rather less virtuous – designs. Like marrying Orgon’s daughter Mariane, whilst seducing his wife, Elmire. The rest of the family, incensed by Orgon’s ignorance, set about trying to expose Tartuffe’s despicable design. Orgon’s son, Damis, overhears Tartuffe professing his love for his mother, and believes that this information must surely unbind his father from the spell – but instead Orgon disinherits his son and names Tartuffe as his sole heir. So when Orgon finally discovers the truth about his beneficiary, it is too late; Tartuffe has already set in motion his plans to evict the destitute family from the house he now owns.
From Director Peter Reynolds:Thoughts on Tartuffe…
Now is the ideal time to explore Moliere’s enduring comedy, Tartuffe. Banned for a time as an attack on religion itself, the play was rescued by the King, to whom Moliere offered a flattering nod at the end of Tartuffe. The play went on to become Moliere’s longest-running and most financially successful play, and audiences around the world have enjoyed the uproarious story for 350 years.Under the comedy lies Moliere’s all-too-relevant screed on the danger of being seduced by a man who promises salvation when all he is really after is self-aggrandizement. Tartuffe’s aims are self-gratification, wealth, and domination, and any evidence contrary of his beliefs would merely be “fake news.”As disturbing as Moliere’s hypocritical charlatan is, I am more deeply perplexed by those who follow blindly, unable or unwilling to realize that they are being hoodwinked. Tartuffe hides his true nature behind righteousness, selling his bill of goods to Orgon and Madame Pernelle, a mother and son who become true believers in spite of common sense and the protestations of their own family. Orgon and Pernelle buy into Tartuffe’s objectives, uncomfortably similar to making France “great again.” Fortunately, savvy characters are on hand to set the household to right. – Peter Reynolds.