U of Delaware's Resident Ensemble Players present Molière's 'Tartuffe'

REP's Thompson Theatre has a comfortably large stage that's also very tall, allowing Hugh Landwehr to design a three-story set for respectable businessman Orgon's (Lee E. Ernst) main hall. Stairs zig and zag across the stage, with a second-floor landing that's like a bridge over a canyon. It's finished in dark wood tones, with religious accessories added to reflect Orgon's obsession with supposedly pious Tartuffe (Mic Matarrese), from his room at the top to the floor design's clever crosses. Matthew Richards's lighting beams sunlight through huge windows.

Classic conniving

Molière's 1664 farce, in Richard Wilbur's rhyming-couplet translation, flows smoothly from REP's capable actors without seeming singsong. The opening scene features Kathleen Pirkl Tague as Madame Pernelle making the long journey from the set's top to the exit downstage left, singing the title character's praises, while her servant Flipote (Eileen O'Connor) struggles hilariously with her lady's luggage down all those stairs. Elizabeth Heflin plays Orgon's long-suffering wife Elmire, the object of Tartuffe's lust. Brother Cleante (Stephen Pelinski), children Damis (Michael Gotch) and Marianne (Kristin Villanueva), and maid Dorine (Deena Burke) likewise condemn Tartuffe's falseness in the play's well-crafted buildup to his entrance.

When they learn Orgon intends to break off Marianne's engagement to Valere (Justin Keyes) and marry her to Tartuffe, Dorine launches a plan to thwart him. It's another brilliant scene, contrasting Valere and Marianne's youthful passions with Dorine's wisdom, delivered in thick sarcasm.

Matarrese excels as the oily Tartuffe, who after being caught trying to seduce Elmire, manages to convince Orgon of his innocence, employing "reverse psychology" 250 years before the term was coined. Orgon banishes Damis and bequeaths all his worldly goods to Tartuffe. Can the family persuade Orgon that Tartuffe is a conniving hypocrite?

Trust the play

Tartuffe famously skewers false religious piety ("There's no evil ‘til the act is known," Tartuffe reasons, "no sin to sin in confidence") but faced resistance from religious leaders, who saw Molière's satire as an attack. Molière hedged his bets by praising France's King Louis XIV in his deus ex machina finale, which REP stages with elaborate surprises from Landwehr's set, Richards's lighting, and Fabio Toblini's sumptuous period costumes. John Plumpis, who plays the unctuous official Loyal with aplomb, returns as the Sun King in a crescendo that's worth the price of admission.

Aitken's production allows Tartuffe to speak for itself, without underscoring its themes by setting it in the modern United States (as is often done, successfully) or embellishing its comedy with excessive business (which occurs often, less successfully). It's a smart, swift, stout production of a 350-year-old play that holds up well, providing lots of laughs and a relevant message about hypocrisy and gullibility.