by Cari Lynn Pace

Ross Valley Players now rehearse

a play that’s spoken all in verse.

Moliere’s ‘Tartuffe’ is a sensation;

French to English script translation.

Richard Wilbur uses rhyme

to set the play in 60’s time.

Tartuffe the hypocrite has power.

He will take and all devour.

Manipulating son and mother,

They are warned but hear no other.

Tartuffe claims he’s theologue;

Family knows he’s just a rogue.

But how to prove this sheep’s a wolf?

Tartuffe is clever, they need proof.

Up in arms, they’re far from calm.

Director: Adrian Elfenbaum.

This cast has fun there is no doubt.

The ending you won’t figure out.

Tartuffe is a bright departure from the typical staples of local theater companies. The amusing plot, originally written and then banned in the mid-1660’s, dealt with uncovering a Rasputin-like interloper for the fraud he truly was. The energy and freshness of this play, done entirely in rhyme, is brilliant. Director Adrian Elfenbaum has to thank Richard Wilbur for his smart translation from French to an English cadence that the actors deliver flawlessly.

Audience laughter is frequently abbreviated to listen for the very clever rhyme that surely follows. Added to this are fine actors showing astounding facial expressions; these need no lines to interpret.

Husband Douglas Nolan’s emotions flow from sycophant to brute to flustered in a masterful role. Tamar Cohn’s supercilious facial expressions show this mother takes no prisoners in her zeal for Tartuffe. These two are hopelessly enraptured by the scoundrel to the utter disbelief of their family. Even the maid, in an energetic and over-the-top performance by Emily Anderson, spots the charlatan for a snake charmer.

When smarmy Tartuffe deigns to appear, Steve Price (also the show’s producer) lets his natural comedic talent really shine. Family members who recognize that Tartuffe is a wolf in holy sheep’s fleece try mightily to expose him without success.

Stephanie Hunt, whose stage presence recalls Carol Burnett, is the wife and Tartuffe’s targeted paramour. She is aghast at his advances and thwarted in her efforts to expose him to her husband. What’s a woman to do?

No spoiler ending here, but the quoted phrase “true and false are not the same” could be appropriate for the Tartuffe saga. Or I will put it another way:

‘Tartuffe’ is a laugh for the eye and the ear.

The talent abounds and its lesson is clear.

Playing now through October 12 at The Barn in the Marin Art and Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Ross.

Info and tickets at www.rossvalleyplayers.com

Photos by Robin Jackson

Cari Lynn Pace is a long-time Bay Area theatre critic whose reviews were regularly featured in the Marinscope Community Newspapers.