Sixth Form French students visited the Birmingham Rep Theatre on Wednesday 19th October to watch Tartuffe, a comedy written by acclaimed French playwright Molière in 1664. Despite being written centuries ago, Molière’s satire of a religious hypocrite who twists scripture and religious teachings to manipulate others for his own benefit remains relevant in contemporary society.
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s creative retelling sets Tartuffe in modern Britain, where the charismatic conman preaches his way into a British Pakistani Muslim household. Imran, the father of the Pervaiz family, becomes beguiled by Tartuffe's fabricated Islamic preaching and ignores warnings from his increasingly appalled family. After several attempts to reveal Tartuffe's dishonesty to Imran, the family finally proves the charlatan’s falsity and gets him arrested at last.
The clever updating included a Bosnian Muslim cleaner, Darina, who comments on the action, mocking not only Tartuffe but the foolish young lovers too, rap sequences and lots of references to Birmingham (Small Heath, Black Sabbath). Overall, The Rep’s rendition of Tartuffe was a really entertaining evening that did Molière justice while tackling controversial themes and showing how classic drama is still relevant today.
Leelam, SFC1 (Year 12)
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