March 4th, 6PM
JOIN US for a staged reading of Molière's banned Tartuffe!
Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission, followed by a community talk back
How is this Molière's Banned Tartuffe?
We are offering the English Language version of Molière's original "Tartuffe", written in 1664 and immediately banned by the King of France.
Lost to history, this original play was reconstructed by French historian Georges Forestier, through a process of historical genetics, and premiered at La Comédie Française in Paris in 2022.
It was presented in English for the first time ever, on Molière in the Park's stage in May 2023.
Synopsis
A bible thumping slug
Enters the home of a puritan bug
Mix in love, power,
And fleshly fantasies by the hour
And call it Molière’s original plug!
If ever a play,
Plumed back in the day,
Knew exactly with what we’d be dealing.
THIS tale by Molière,
Might be older fare,
But the story's even more ... revealing.
Creative Team
Director: Lucie Tiberghien
Composer: Paul Brill
Translator: Maya Slater
Original Play Restitution: Georges Forestier
Producer: Garth Belcon
A statement from Lucie Tiberghien
I never thought I’d be able to say: Molière in the Park is presenting a new play by Molière. Yet this is what we’re doing, at a time when the two factors that led to the banning and disappearance of the original script have re-emerged in the U.S. with furious energy: censorship, and willful denialism. Theater for all, as free entertainment, as a catalyst for empathy in our communities and as a conduit for political and social discourse is what we set out to offer when founding Molière in the Park. This English language world premiere, penned 359 years ago, gives us a distinct and immediate chance at providing all 3; an exciting AND terrifying prospect because… how exactly have we evolved in those 359 years?”
This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Adaptation originale de Georges FORESTIER
Edition Portaparole, 2021
Tartuffe by Molière, translated by Maya Slater appears in The Misanthrope, Tartuffe and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) is used with permission of Oxford University Press