Civic Theatre Lets Power Of Words Dominate In 'Tartuffe'

Civic Theatre Lets Power Of Words Dominate In 'Tartuffe’

BY NORMAN GIBSON

News Drama Critic

Maybe the lily shouldn't be gilded -- and the production is lustrous enough -- but there is something to ponder about Ann Arbor Civic Theatre's production of Moliere's "Tartuffe" in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater.

Observe first that Bettie Seeman's costumes are rich and beauteous -- they almost couldn't be more vivid. Then observe that the set by Alice B. Crawford is almost monochromatically stark.

The thing to ponder is what this arrangement -- the high contrast of the costumes against the high key of the nearly single-color scenery -- accomplishes.

In a way, director John C. Reed may be trying to keep the trappings from interfering with the main moment, the rich and musical English verse translation of poet Richard Wilbur.

There can't be any argument this is an honorable intention in staging just about anything, but in something which relies so much on the fabric of words for a lot of it's effect, it might be too much of a separation of physical surroundings from what they are meant to enclose, something like tossing a multi-colored rug on a bare floor. But a beautiful floor sometimes can enhance a beautiful rug.

Then again, maybe people are going to like Moliere in a sort of isolation -- any errors are going to be more glaring, for sure. In this production, fortunately, errors are kept to a minimum.

There are moments when Moliere seems forced. Somtimes actors and actresses go chasing after him in his own rhymed couplets as if they were yapping hounds in pursuit of the elusive fox, but there are scenes when they coax the delicious moments in a manner which makes audiences drool for more.

It is too bad taht Tartuffe is withheld from the ring for almost 45 minutes, for Chuck Keeps has an engaging, soft-spoken indifference about the role. His pudgy Tartuffe is a charming rouge who preys on his victims so that they become addicted to it. If Tartuffe weren't caught up in the design of his own destruction in the final scene, you get the impression that Keeps would keep the wayward and raffish Tartuffe rolling over fullible people forever, and, therefore, it becomes compelling that Tartuffe be stopped which he is, of course, although there may not be bars strong enough to hold this Tartuffe very long.

Especially in the early action, where the audience still may be trying to adjust to this conception, Charles Sutherland takes some scenes which are more vibrating than vibrant and holds them together with his grey-headed portrayal of the smug, domineering father righding for the fall that Tartuffe engineers.

And when Constance Cicone, as Sutherland's wife finds herself engaged in the seduction scene with Keepsn -- Sutherland being in a tizzy under the table -- she is having her best moments of the comedy. There are best moments for just about everybody, and a few worst, here and there.

Susan Crippen mimes at some crucial moments in the role of Flipote as Burnette Staebler uses a walking stick to slash outspokenly in the role of the grandmother Pernelle. Mary L. Pettit has huge amounts of the production to carry as snooping maid Dorine, who freely offers advice and nostrums, most often to the daughter Mariane, who is played in a consistent clinging manner by Karen Woodruff. Sam J. Viviano loudly slashes -- he uses a sword -- his way through the role of the son Damis while Michael Raymond tangles suitably with the role of the suitor Valere and Thomas M. Manzi with the role of Cleante, as does Bill Kinnucan with the role of the king's officer.

As the Norman bailiff who comes to serve the warrent, Laurence J. Coven appears only at the end, but he captures all there is in the part, maybe more.

Director's Reed's staging is not one of those overly clever, overpowering affairs. Instead, he allows the cleverness and power to come from the source, Moliere.

Further performances are at 8 p.m. today through Saturday.