Tartuffe
Written by Molière
Narrated by Brian Bedford and Full Cast
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Initially banned in France by King Louis, Molière's celebrated social satire Tartuffe exposes false piety and hypocrisy in the Catholic Church.
When a pious fraud worms his way into a wealthy family and manipulates the patriarch into giving up his fortune, it’s up to his family to expose the truth before they end up in the poorhouse!
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance starring:
- Brian Bedford as Tartuffe
- JB Blanc as M. Loyal and Officer
- Daniel Blinkoff as Damis
- Gia Carides as Dorine
- Jane Carr as Mme. Pernelle
- John de Lancie as Cleante
- Martin Jarvis as Orgon
- Alex Kingston as Elmire
- Matthew Rhys as Valere
- Sarah Zimmerman as Mariane
Translated by Richard Wilbur. Directed by Dakin Matthews. Recorded at The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood in June, 2010.
©2010 L.A. Theatre Works (P)2010 L.A. Theatre Works
Molière
Molière was a French playwright, actor, and poet. Widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and universal literature, his extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more.
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Reviews for Tartuffe
34 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved the play and the actors' performances! Great audiobook!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Masterful acting / best theatre audio I’be heard this far.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The comedy of this play walked the fine line between humor and tragedy. In the modern world there are all kinds of people insisting that black is white and white is black and declaring others crazy for not believing, so Tartuffe is readily believable. The appeal to the king is overt - the ending is resolved through the "wisdom and benevolence" of the king in the play. Even so, the story is a powerful warning against hypocrisy.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moliere has long been on my to-read list because his comedies were on a list of "100 Significant Books" I was determined to read through. The introduction in one of the books of his plays says that of his "thirty-two comedies... a good third are among the comic masterpieces of world literature." The plays are surprisingly accessible and amusing, even if by and large they strike me as frothy and light compared to comedies by Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Wilde, Shaw and Rostand. But I may be at a disadvantage. I'm a native New Yorker, and looking back it's amazing how many classic plays I've seen on stage, plenty I've seen in filmed adaptations and many I've studied in school. Yet I've never encountered Moliere before this. Several productions of Shakespeare live and filmed are definitely responsible for me love of his plays. Reading a play is really no substitute for seeing it--the text is only scaffolding. So that might be why I don't rate these plays higher. I admit I also found Wilbur's much recommended translation off-putting at first. The format of rhyming couplets seemed sing-song and trite, as if I was reading the lyrics to a musical rather than a play. As I read more I did get used to that form, but I do suspect these are the kinds of works that play much better on stage than on the page.Tartuffe is the second play by Moliere I've read out of five; this one, about over-religiosity and hypocrisy is my favorite. The title character Tartuffe is a conman who prays on the religious sensibility and man-crush of his patron Orgon. The scene in particular where Orgon responds to reports of his wife's illness by repeatedly asking, "But what about Tartuffe" nearly had me laughing out loud. The character of the pert and shrewd lady's maid Dorine is particularly delightful.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I read this for my World Lit II class. I'm glad it was assigned because I really enjoyed it - way more than I expect I would enjoy a French play from the 17th century. But the subject of religious hypocrites never go out of style. Tartuffe is a major tool, and a master manipulator who, sadly, reminds me of someone I know. Lots of good nuggets of prose and quotable dialogue here. It's pretty much as awesome as awesome can get.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Moliere’s most famous play, concerning the obsequious and hypocritical houseguest Tartuffe. Mildly entertaining, but just OK in my book.Just one quote, on old age: “As long as ‘twas in her power to make conquests, she did not balk any of her advantages; but when she found the luster of her eyes abate, she would needs renounce the world that was on the point of leaving her; and under the specious mask of great prudence, conceal the decay of her worn-out charms.”
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quite enjoyable, but unable really to compete with Richard Wilbur's translation of Moliere's classic play. Malleson tends to focus on the comedy and, while this can certainly be entertaining, it sometimes overshadows or even distorts some of the more subtle elements. Just one example: in the climactic scene where Tartuffe is tricked into exposing his lascivious intentions, Orgon, the husband, keeps trying to emerge from under the table where he's been hiding, only to have his wife struggle to shove him back into place in order to keep him concealed before Tartuffe notices him. This leads to some genuine slapstick, certainly, but at the expense of two, rather telling, points: (1) Orgon truly only loses control when Tartuffe starts to abuse him personally. Orgon is able to keep his composure throughout the seduction, otherwise. (2) Elmire, the wife, is actually in danger of losing control of the situation (and herself?), as opposed to being, as in Malleson's version, very much in command. This translation also includes a preface derived from "L'Impromptu de Versailles," which, I'm guessing, plays nicely on stage but doesn't really add much as an appetizer.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Now this was funny and meaningful. It has a great history, being banned by those whom it attacked. The preface and 3 requests of the king are a work in themselves.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a fabulous contemporary translation. We saw this version performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. As a theater major well-acquainted with other translations, I was wondering how this one would compare, and we were very impressed. The language is humorous and accessible to modern audiences, yet remains faithful to the rhythmic meter and period feel.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read this for my History of Theatre class, and loved it immediately, although several of my classmates did not. It seems that a lot of people these days have trouble with the language and rhythm of the plays by people like Moliere and Shakespeare, and even the novels of Austen and Dickens. As with most of the plays that I've read and then seen, I really enjoy the live performance more--Moliere's characters in particular simply pop off the page.