By Mike Ramsey
All the way from the 1600’s, Utah Valley University’s production of Tartuffe has the audience rolling in the aisle and up on the stage in Orem, Utah. Performed in the Commedia dell’arte, Tartuffe is presented by clowns with no spoken words. The production is played outside in the university’s courtyard amongst waterfalls and grass partitions. Tartuffe, or The Impostor, is one of the most famous comedies by French playwright Moliere and has been performed all over the world since its French premier in 1664.
The play follows the life of Orgon (Becca Ashton) and his family as Orgon and his mother are under the influence of a fraud named Tartuffe (Wade Robert Johnson). The rest of the family are not fooled by the vagrant Tartuffe and do not like him at all. Orgon announces that he will marry off his daughter Mariane (Kat Hawley) to Tartuffe even though she is already engaged to Valere (Tristin Smith). The family concocts a scheme to catch Tartuffe in expressing his real love for Orgon’s wife Elmire (McKell Peterson) using Orgon’s son Damis (Bailey King). Tartuffe weasels his way out of the predicament and Damis is thrown out of the house. In the meantime, Orgon tells Tartuffe about a box of incriminating letters that he has, Tartuffe gets ahold of them and asks Orgon to leave. It appears that Orgon is about to be arrested by the police officer (Ramses Contreras) when the officer arrests Tartuffe instead because of his past criminal history.
The one-hour Tartuffe is so tightly packed with amazing clown physicality that it goes by as though it is 15 minutes of pure delight. Having read the synopsis of Tartuffe only after watching the show, I was thrilled to know that with no dialogue I left knowing most of the story. My hat’s off to the actors and direction that persuasively teaches the audience the plot filled with emotion. Things that I loved about this show are the use of the audience, even onstage; the use of the music to help up understand the mood and plot; and the use of the costumes and make-up to tell the story of the characters before they even started to perform. The best part by far is the physicality used by the actors as clowns. It is superb. The art of Clowning is not easy and can quickly bore an audience with the same actions/expressions over and over again. Not in the case of this presentation. Each character is his/her own as expressed in the individual movement used specifically for them. The movement used to heighten the comedy is also amazing and in one scene the movement of a sleeping person from chairs to the floor and back is hilarious and well played.
Directed by McKay Nicoll with Miranda Richards as Stage manager, this production is a very entertaining experience. Nicoll uses not only the whole stage but the whole space as defined by a portion of the courtyard. The costumes, designed by Ariane Tomlinson, are fun and bring back memories of attending the circus. Whitney Black’s hair and makeup design leave nothing amiss and is perfect for the director’s goal. Steve Purdy as usual tells the rest of the story with his simple, yet understandable set design.
I loved the UVU’s Tartuffe and everything about it. However, the early start time of 5:00 PM not only put the sun in half of the audience’s eyes, but those who have to work until 5:00 PM or later miss this great performance. Other than that it is marvelous and another great production from Utah Valley University’s wonderful theater department.
Utah Valley University Theatre Department presents Tartuffe by Moliere.
Utah Valley University 800 W University Pkwy, Orem, UT 84058
September 6-12, 5:00 PM
Tickets: $5
Contact: 801-863-8000
UVU Theatrical Arts Facebook Page
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