Tartuffe has been fairly popular recently, with religious fanaticism being such a current issue. (And unlike Voltaire’s Mahomet, you can still do it with immunity). Ironically, this production does little to emphasize the contemporary relevance. Its Tartuffe, Robert Gallinowsksi, is neither charismatic nor… fanatical enough to constitute a real menace.
It is the weakness of Orgon, Tartuffe’s gullible victim, played here by Joerg Gudzuhn, that is the subject of this production. The most striking moment in the play is Orgon’s leavetaking, when he believes that he has lost everything to Tartuffe and must now leave his family in order to save them. Instead of having Orgon reunite with his family at the end, director Robert Schuster has the family hiding in the wings in order to watch Orgon give his final speech alone at the center of the stage.
Perhaps as a result of Tartuffe’s current relevance, Moliere’s light comedy is not at its comic best in this rendition. A bright exception is Kathrin Wehlisch’s Dorine, the ingenious maid, who makes the most of Sascha Gross’ unusual design. The stage is a cross-shaped white platform, one arm of which extends into the auditorium, while the longest arm finishes at the back wall of the the actual stage space. In the scene in which Dorine acts as the mediator between the two lovers, Wehlisch runs frantically between the two furthest ends of the cross to carry their messages, while at the same time trying to lure each of them closer to the stage. Wehlisch’s physical comedy is not matched by the rest of the cast, however, who aim for a more restrained delivery with occasional punctuations of frantic anxiety/anger/violence.
What happens to Tartuffe here is what happens frequently with modern productions of Aristophanes: Because the play is relevant, important, and cannonized, it can no longer be funny. Serious comedy, by which I mean comedy with a purpose, not sentimental comedy, seems to be a lost art.
