Perhaps the UCLA theater department knew who the most
influential voters would be in the 2004 election when it chose its
lineup of plays for the winter. A month before the election,
students in the graduate theater program began rehearsals on a play
about a man who pledges allegiance with a moral majority and the
effect it has on a family.
No, the play is not an adaptation of “Fahrenheit
9/11,” but “Tartuffe,” a fictional play from the
imagination of 16th century French playwright Jean Baptiste
Poquelin Molière.
“Tartuffe” will be performed by the UCLA acting
students in the Little Theater tonight through Feb. 12.
While there is no direct connection between the play and the
fall election, it’s natural to wonder if the theater
department expected a win from the moral majority when they decided
on the play.
“I don’t want to give anything away, but I just
think people throughout the show will think, “˜Yeah,
that’s pretty timely.’ That’s what any good play
that transcends time does,” said Gregory Myhre, a second-year
graduate acting student who plays Orgon, the head of the household
in “Tartuffe.”
In the play, Tartuffe, a man pretending to be holy, comes to
Orgon and deceives him, against the wishes of his family. Tartuffe
has such power over Orgon that Orgon calls off his daughter’s
engagement to her fiance, and the play evolves as the family tries
to expose Tartuffe’s hypocrisy.
“It is treated in a zany and comical fashion and with a
very sharp and insightful view at something we have all experienced
in our own families and our own nation,” said Michael McLain,
a professor in the theater department and director of
“Tartuffe.”
“I hope to be able to release that dimension of it,”
he said.
“Tartuffe” kicks off a series of MFA plays this
quarter, with “Beaux Stratagem,” another Restoration
comedy, opening Friday night.
The actors hope “Tartuffe” will show some
prospective dangers of obsessive delusional thinking.
“When the need to believe in something so strongly tricks
anyone ““ the head of a household or a head of state ““
who is determined, it is a push paradigm, not only in a born-again
aspect, but in the way of forced tyranny,” said McLain.
The play was a complete scandal in 1660 because it was thought
of as an attack on religion. But the actors in this production
actually see it as a celebration of true faith, as the lively
family tries to combat the religious hypocrisy of Tartuffe.
“(This play) deals with humanity, and that’s what is
great about theater, the different themes we all deal with and
identify with, and good theater always comes back. It’s not a
show with one slanted view; it deals with hypocrisy, but also deals
with genuine faith embodied in (the family),” said Emily
Rose, a second-year graduate acting student who plays Doreen, a
spunky maid who tries to enlighten Orgon.
“Tartuffe” is part of a series of Restoration
comedies performed by graduate students this quarter. Last year,
the MFA program performed the works of Charles Mee, and this year
Restoration pieces were selected as a challenge for actors who must
master the heightened language and difficult character
portrayal.
“We don’t want anyone to be scared of it because
it’s religious or traditional, because it’s fun and
we’ve had fun working on it since October,” said
Rose.
The play has been especially enjoyable for the actors, as they
are acting in roles that Molière created based on actual
people in his acting troupe.
“It just gives us shivers here in theater,” said
McLain. “It’s fascinating to think that the greatest
playwrights in England and France were actors writing from their
own companies providing them with material.”