QUIZ

1. Who in the family thinks Tartuffe is a good man at the beginning of the play?
2. Why doesn't Marianne want to marry Tartuffe?
3. What does Elmire try to do in order to expose Tartuffe to Orgon?
4. What are Marianne and Valere fighting about in act 2?
5. What does Dorine say about lovers in act 2?
6. Why does Orgon kick Damis out the house?
7. Where does Damis and Dorine hide, in our production?
8. Where does Orgon hide, on Elmire's command?
9. What does Tartuffe mean when he says 'It's scandal, which creates the sin' in act 4?
10. Why is Orgon's crime pardoned in act 5?

Answers:

1)Orgon, Madame Pernelle

2)She loves Valere/He's too old

3)Tries to seduce him

4)Her marriage to Tartuffe

5)'Lovers are completely mad'

6)Because he has disrespected Tartuffe/He won't beg forgiveness

7)Under the ladder

8)Under the table

9)It will only become a problem if people find out/God doesn't matter

10) Because during the civil war he favoured and supported the king 

Themes

DENIAL - found in Orgon and Madame
 Pernelle's refusal to believe their family  

                                         HYPOCRISY- Tartuffe preaches about a                                          religious life then tries to seduce Elmire


RELIGION- Despite the families disdain for Tartuffe
they still believe in god. It is about the conflict between 
what makes somebody religious and what is the right way
to believe in God.

                MONEY

All Tartuffe really wants is money, God is just a way of doing that.

Yes, he wants to sleep with Elmire but that would just be a bonus, when he says he loves her he is lying. 

FAMILY The characters in this play are tied

 together by familial love. If Dorine didn't love 

Marianne she wouldn't help her, she would have 

obeyed Orgon's law. If Orgon didn't love his wife

 he never would have agreed to play along with her trick. 

It is also why it is so shocking when Orgon throws out his own flesh and blood, Damis, in favour of Tartuffe. 

                                                   SEX AND LOVE- the whole play                                                          works to try and get Marianne

                                            married to Valere, because they love                                                     each other and are the equal and                                             perfect match. Ultimately Elmire has to use

                   her biggest weapon to do so, sex. Sex is also Tartuffe's

                                    downfall. If you could of resisted Elmire, 

                               he would have got Damis' inheritance and

                  get away with it. But his lust for Elmire lets him down. 



These were our ideas, why not think of some of your own?

Rehearsals - Day in life

We would start the day with a group warm up. Usually start by giving the actors time to stretch and wake themselves up. Then moving around the space. We would use a 1 - 10 scale for the speed of movement. they would start at 5 and move up to 10 on command. They would find interesting ways of moving around their bodies and the space.

Releasing sound or pieces of text as they moved around the space and played with each other. They tap on another actors shoulders and they would either jump on or go down to the floor.

Then they would have to move down from 5 speed to zero, at the same time without talking. They got better at this as time went on.


Then we would do some animal work. They find a space on their own and go to sleep as their animal. We worked through the stages of waking up, eating, hearing loud noises. Then we would work up to fully human.

 Why don't you try pick an animal for each character? You could research it and find pictures, watch videos on you tube and start learning how to move like it. 


After this the actors created a circle an would go around the circle leading a vocal warm up, given to them by a voice teacher.

Music was a big part of our play the actors learnt about 4 songs that they performed during scene transitions. This really helped them to become an ensemble. After vocal warm ups we would practice the songs. This video is from the early rehearsal stage, so the song isn't perfect...

We would then practice the dance, choreographed by Glenn Snowden, Drama Centre London's ballet teacher. This would be performed at the end of the play. Try stop and start the video and learn the dance yourself!

Then we would begin working through the text, sometimes we would improvise the scenes or just stick to the script. Making sure that actors had translated the script into their own words, so we could start to play...

Movement exercise:  

• Actors move leading from a certain body part (nose, chest, knees)
• Director claps and they change body part
• Then they mimic the movements of natural elements on command: falling leaves, thunder, mud, electricity, gentle breezes, whirlpool, tornado and rock
• After you have gone through the list, you repeat it, this time they can make noises related to said element
• Then repeat, but instead of using elements use colour, they embody what the colour represent when they move, and then the sound of the colour
• We would then use the themes of the play: Lust, Sex and love, money, religion etc... 
• They would decide what colour the theme was, what element it was and move accordingly. 
• They would then use a line from the text with their movement

Try it yourself, use your own themes, come up with some more elements if you like

Commedia Dell'arte

Moliere began his theatrical career with Commedia Dell'arte. Despite the introduction of naturalism since then, we as a company decided Commedia was something we should all know about, as it may inform the character development. But Commedia is something that you have to study for years, go to Italy and train under a master, before you can really be an expert. However you can understand the basic principles so lets break it down...

 Who were they?

Commedia dell'arte is known as "Actor's theatre" because of its organisation. The actors were the authors, the editors, the directors, the producers - you name it, they were it.They worked in troops together touring Europe.

The nature of the companies and the physical style also meant that people of different nationalities could work easily together AND that audiences of different nationalities could understand the same show. It created a universal format of performance e.g you would always know that the fat doctor would waffle on and argue with pantalone

Finally, the troops were run democratically. Everyone got paid and WOMEN WERE SEEN AS EQUAL!!!

Where was this happening?

Commedia dell'arte, like most cool stuff at that time in Europe, was founded in Italy. Venice to be precise. Hence you can see the masks with the big noses at the parties there.

Venice was a hive of cultural activity and thinking at the time.

When was this happening?

Commedia dell'arte began in the 1600's (or the seventeenth century).

However it's been used explicitly or inadvertently since then. It was the founding for a lot of Western theatre. The most recent and famous example of the style would be 'One man Two Governors' that was on the West End

So.... What is it?

Style:

Commedia dell'arte is a style of predominantly physical theatre.

It was a marriage of the literary style of the time and street performers. "It had one foot in the palace, and one on the street."

Key to the style is the audience. They were essential to the jokes by nature of sharing them with the actors. You had to understand them and their needs and they absolutely had to understand you and yours.

Masters and servants. A huge amount of the humour comes from the relationship between a master and their servant, whether that servant be inadequate and screws up all the time or whether the servant is actually more intelligent than the master.

Commedia dell'arte works on the 7 universal emotions: joy, grief, fear, anger, surprise, love, laughter

These emotions were conveyed through emotive language. No words were actually spoken only gobbledygook that sounded like the emotion they wanted to convey (this is what made it universally understandable and so physically dominant) 

This however didn't go down so well. The church considered the actions of the actors as unholy and even thought they were speaking in the devil's tongue. So actors at this time were condemned. Lest we forget Moliere was buried outside of the city walls. 

LAZZI:

Lazzi are essentially "gags" or stock jokes which can be added into a commedia dell'arte play or

performance in order to ensure the comic action keeps pace. Traditionally the writers and actors in a

troupe would have lazzi memorized so that they could insert them where needed.

Some examples are:

Lazzi 1: The lazzi of Mimicking

This involves "taking the mickey" out of a character by exaggerating their walk, gesture, facial expression and way of speaking. Sometimes the character who is being ridiculed is unaware of what is happening.

Lazzi 2: The lazzi of "Here, here, then here"

During the course of the scene, when a question is asked the reply is a deliberately too-literal but comic response. So, for example, when a question like "where have you been?" is asked, the reply might be "I was here" (pointing at the spot where the character had been standing a moment before). When asked"and before that?" the reply might be "before that I was here" (pointing a foot or so away from where he was previously) Young children, in particular, love the silliness and absurdity of this type of lazzi.

STORY

The stories were flexible and roughly improvised. You would have points that you'd absolutely hit i.e. the daughter of the doctor being given her hand in marriage to pantalone, whom she doesn't love because he's gross and she's in love with her lover anyway.

No scene would last longer than three minutes, so the pace was up and the energy huge.

Lazzi is a fun phenomenon that is basically physical comedy, it would interrupt the direct plot and detract from it for a little bit before returning it back on course afterwards. 

Characters:

Pantalone - [moves with a bent back] Rat-like in they're quality. They are a merchant, usually a miserly old man, they're mean and they've got a lot of needs.They have the sensation of vinegar. Think Scrooge, Fagin or Mr burns

The doctor - [ moves from his big belly] They are a person of learning, they know everything about everything but understands nothing. Because they are so eihed down by their immense intelligence they tend to waffles on and on.

Brighella - [ moves with closed hips] She is the cunning servant, she's a brain character, master of servants but servant of masters. (Basil Fawlty would be an example) They can be a womanizer, and they always think ahead, what's in it for them?

Harlequino - [ moves with open hips] Monkey-like. They are the stupid servant ( they don't use logic) They are a  body character, being intuitive and happy-go-lucky. They think they're gorgeous, they're acrobatic, cheeky, playful and always hungry (Artful dodger )

Columbina - Another servant. They are as cunning as Brighella, as playful as Harlequino, can hold an academic discourse on everything like the doctor and are as good with money as Pantalone.  They are the linchpin, always helping the story and the other characters along.

First actor and actresses - [move from their shoulders] These guys don't wear masks. They're serious, dangerous lovers. They are members of the court of Magnifico, in the world of the borgias and medicis.

Second actor and actresses - These two are the young lovers. They have a fantastic education and everything they need to move up in the world to the level of the aristocrats. They are moving into the world of the grown-ups but are still generally immature.

Witch - This is a 20th century invention, she represents the Magnifico of the countryside.

Captain - [ moves from his knees] The captain is a mercenary soldier, he's full of swagger but in reality is a complete coward and will do anything to avoid a fight.Magnifico - [moves from his head] They are an eagle-like being, they looks down on everything and everyone. They have huge power and are the leader of the city and they absolutely behave like it.

Zanni - [moves from his long nose and feet] They are the pigeon to Magnifico's eagle. Zanni is a peasant whose come to the city for work, everything is extraordinary to him. It makes him extremely curious and enthusiastic because he wants to please and he wants to work (Manuel in fawlty towers is always cited as a good example) Zanni is the servant to Magnifico. Zanni is supposed to come across as stupid.

So...

Now most of the basics are covered, the actors had a workshop on the first day of full time rehearsals, on Commedia Dell'arte with Didi Hopkins. She has used her expert knowledge on Commedia on shows such as one man two governors at the national. She has lots of useful videos on you tube explaining Commedia in more depth. Here are some clips of that workshop...

The Playwright - Moliere

"One ought to look a good deal at oneself before thinking of 
condemning others." - Jean-Baptiste Moliere

Moliere was a French playwright born in 1622, and died on stage on tuberculosis in 1673. Born under the name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, later known by his stage name Moliere. He was born into a wealthy family. His Father was the furnishers for the king, which meant Moliere received a good education at the College de Clermont. His Mother died when he was 10 years old. He was expected to follow in his fathers footsteps, but he decided to become an actor instead. He went on to become one the greatest French writers, forming his own company which combined aspects of commedia dell'arte and refined French comedy.

In our production Moliere's company was the backbone of our world. We were lucky to have an actor to spoke fluent French so we began the production with a scene with 'Moliere' and a translator discussing the scandal of the comedy when it was first shown, this was from Moliere's preface to the play:


''Here is a comedy about which people have raised quite a stir, which has long been persecuted, and the people it mocks have made plain that they were more powerful in France than all those I have mocked heretofore. The marquises, the precious ladies, the cuckolds, and the doctors have suffered the portrayal in peace, and have even made a show of being amused, like everyone else, by the sketches we made of them. But the hypocrites could not take mockery; they were immediately affrighted, and found it strange that I should be so bold as to make sport of their grimacing and wish to criticize an occupation meddled in by so many honest folk.''

Buom Tihngang, as Moliere reading an abridged preface to the play

Company

Drama Centre London Rehearsal exercises focuses on the development of the actor, as opposed to a directorial vision. Georgina Sowerby (the director) decided the world of this play would be Moliere and his company putting on a play. The house of in a mess because they had the builders in. We created Molieres company by watching Ariane Mnouchkine's film Moliere. WATCH IT

The actors were asked to put all their lines into their own language. This was so they could say it in their words and then note the gestures they made and transfer that into their character. This also helped the actors fully understand their characters words, and break down the verse.  Personalisation was used for Tartuffe. Every actor had an image of someone in their life that could be Tartuffe, as well as the other characters. Actors playing Orgon were asked to focus on their fathers as a way of getting into an older mindset.

DO IT YOURSELF if you are struggling with the verse form, try putting the whole thing into your own words, it helps the whole thing to make sense!
Drama centre's training is extremely physical and intense, as were early rehearsals. Each character created an improvisation based on their characters life before the play. They also created relationship improvisations. Early rehearsals were physically based.



Actors would work on an animal for their character. They would start by playing fully as the animal, exploring the space and their objects. Then they would be 70% animal, 30% human, then 50/50 and slowly work their way up too 100% human. They would explore lust, hunger, speed, tempo and mood in both animal and human, and see how it develops. The idea is that the animal can inform the characters gestures and reactions. It was extremely important for the actors to find the right animal, so they often scrapped the first one they brought in.

These exercises allowed the actors to play with their character before delving into the text.

Character loops -

The actors made lists of what their characters said about others and what others said about them. They would read these lists to the rest of the cast and they would act it out physically. Then the director would read the list and the actor would join the group and copy the ones they liked. Then they would have the list read to them and they would do what they remembered. This is a way of finding gestures, without the actor having to think of them for themselves. Below is some footage of the character loops

TRY IT your teacher could read out quotes from the play and you could try making your own loops for the entire play

Cast

Alan Prile- Act 1

Buom Tihngang  - Act 3

Orgon - The father of Marianne and Damis, Husband of Elmire. He is the man of the house. He is having a mid life crisis when the play begins and is infatuated with Tartuffe. Before the play he loved his family.

Ben Cooper - Act 2

Luke Hornsby-Smith - Act 4/5

Elmire - The second wife of Orgon, Stepmother to Damis and Elmire, Sister of Cleante. She is a sexy and determined woman. She loves her husband and his children. She is the one who manages to open Orgon's eyes to the truth.

Katharine Samuelson- Act 3

Jessica Webber- Act 4

Cara Ronzetti- act 1/5

Marianne- Orgon's Daughter, promised to marry Valere. She is a Daddy's girl and is completely in love with Valere. She is also extremely emotional.

Kathleen Cranham

Damis Son of Orgon, hoping to be married to Valere's Sister. He's 16 years old, and childish.

Thomas Mahy 

Cleante - Brother of Elmire. He is the wisest, and most intelligent character. He is the only one who remains calm throughout. He likes to drink, gamble and socialise, but everything in moderation. He is also wise to Tartuffe's ways.

James Stallwood

Madame Pernelle- Orgon's Mother. She is also infatuated with Tartuffe. Before Tartuffe entered the fray her relationship with her family was extremely loving. She hits her maid Flipote. Tartuffe has convinced her that her Grandchildren are the spawn of Satan, and the parties that their family have are works of the devil.

India Thain

Valere Fiance of Marianne. He is a hopeless romantic and completely in love with Marianne. Before the play begins he has won the approval of the whole family, most importantly Orgon. So he is shocked when suddenly his marriage is threatened by Tartuffe. Like Marianne, he is also stubborn.

Frederick Wise

Flipote The maid to Madame Pernelle. She is 12 years old and lives in Madame Pernelle's home. She is treated quite badly by her. Although we only meet her once in the play, we know she has probably suffered since Tartuffe has been around. We decided she had a pet mouse who lives at Madame Pernelle's house called Jeremy.

Sabrina Messer

Dorine The families beloved maid, who can't shut up. She is the one who stepped up to role of mother when the children's mother died. She is extremely intelligent, but socially not academically. She sees straight through Tartuffe, and she hatches the plan to catch him out with Elmire. Although she is a servant, she is part of the family.

Sabrina Messer - Act 2 

Helena McColl - Act 1

Lucy Menzies Act 3/4/5

 Tartuffe The imposter into the Pernelle household. He and Laurent have hatched plans like this before. They are both dirt poor. He has spent his life in the gutter, he see's how unfair it is that he was born into poverty and families like the Pernelle's were born into wealth. He is living under a fake name, and is wanted for other crimes under different names. He has raped women and possibly killed people.

Gabriel Akuwudike- Act 3

Max Keeble Act 4/5

Laurent (Max Keeble) Tartuffe's serving boy. We only meet him once. He is Irish, and physically and mentally disabled. He has helped Tartuffe with many other crimes and schemes before.

Monsieur Loyal A bailiff with a violent edge who often works for Tartuffe. He has used violence as a way of getting people to pay off debts before.

Alan Prile

Officer The kings officer. He comes in to arrest Tartuffe at the end and give an ode to the king. This part was probably written in by Moliere to please King Louis.

Ben Cooper