Tartuffe - Theoretical Design Project

Tartuffe is a farce that follows a self-proclaimed pious con-man who weasels his way into a wealthy, upper class family. All but the head of the household and his mother see through Tartuffe’s lies. Orgon, the head of the household, breaks off his previous promise of his daughter’s marriage in order to give her hand to Tartuffe. This creates problems for Mariane, his daughter, and her lover Valere. Dorine, Mariane’s lady’s maid, conspires with the two lovers to encourage them to rebel against Orgon and Tartuffe. Defending his sister’s previous engagement with Valere and having witnessed Tartuffe’s advances on his stepmother Elmire, Damis, Orgon’s son, gets into an argument with his father. This argument ends with Damis being kicked out of the house and disinherited. Tired of the chaos that has ensued, Orgon’s wife Elmire hatches a plan to expose Tartuffe’s treachery. She hides Orgon under a table and fakes professing her love to Tartuffe. Hearing Tartuffe’s amorous response, Orgon throws Tartuffe out of the house, forgetting that he had signed the property rights to Tartuffe. Soon after, Tartuffe attempts to eject Orgon’s family from their house, but is caught by the king and thrown in jail.
Farces are typically larger than life. During the period that Tartuffe was written, the Academie Francaise had strict rules for theatre and dramatic literature that restricted it to the realm of realism. I chose to set this production of Tartuffe in the 1780’s at the height of the Rococo movement. The extravagance of the Rococo movement harmonizes with the themes of Tartuffe. Tartuffe is a farce meant to mock wealth and overindulgence. The Rococo period is well known for its overindulgence that led to the French Revolution. Political unrest and distaste for the wealthy were on the rise, which makes this play more impactful.