On Stage
One of the perks of my job is getting to see a variety of live theater offerings on a rotating roster of stages around the county. It can also be one of the downsides—if only for the fact that finding a plus-one to each and every outing can sometimes prove to be a challenging chore.
Among my most regular companions are my boyfriend (who seems to prefer standup comedy to almost anything else and eschews interpretive dance), my heterosexual life partner (who jumps at the chance to view partial or full nudity and any sort of act involving animals), and a game-for-just-about-anything friend I’ve dubbed “the professor.”
Because she actually is a theater professor, going to plays with date number three can be an illuminating experience. In addition to being a studious and respectful audience member, she’s also adept at pinpointing salient plot lines, providing background for the plays in question and intelligently discussing the work at hand.
For example, at a recent viewing of Tartuffe at Western Washington University’s Old Main Theater, “the prof” pointed out that when the French playwright Moliere wrote the classic—and sneakily comedic—tale of hypocrisy way back in the 1600s, it was with a political agenda in mind.
“I tell my students he was banned so much because he was trying to make comments on how the church, at that time, was in charge of just about everything,” she shared during intermission. (This was right before she warned me about the “rape on the table” scene.)
For those unfamiliar with Moliere’s masterwork, a quick primer goes something like this: Under the guise of piety, a so-called priest named Tartuffe (a suitably slimy Kyle Mitchell) imposes himself on the wealthy estate—and family—of a hoodwinked blowhard named Orgon (Patrick Stagaman).
When Orgon alienates his family by lavishing gifts on Tartuffe and promising his daughter’s hand in marriage to the ingratiating fraud, it’s up to one of the household maids, Dorine (played with cunning cleverness by Amanda Keogh) and his wife Elmire (Rachel Wachtveitl) to set him straight. But that won’t be easy, as—in Orgon’s eyes, at least—Tartuffe can do no wrong.
It isn’t until Elmire insists he secretly listen in on a meeting between herself and Tartuffe that Orgon understands the depths of depravity the hypocrite is willing to sink to in order to get his hidden lusts fulfilled (see “rape scene on table”).
“Moliere was trying to speak to censorship,” my date also hypothesized in the minutes before the second act. “In class, I relate this play to how they’re trying to censor the Internet. God forbid you try to speak out about some things in this country, or you’ll be labeled a terrorist.”
While audiences will have to show up at the Old Main Theater to find out how Tartuffe wraps up, suffice it to say that “the professor” gave her seal of approval on the way the students revived the Restoration. While she had some issues with the costuming, on the whole she deemed it a worthy rendition of the classic.
“I think the kids are doing a great job with the acting,” she whispered to me in the moments before the stage lights dimmed and the second act started. “I think so too,” I answered, settling in to another night of live theater.
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