<em>Tartuffe</em>, the classic play by the 17th Century French playwright Moliére, comes to the Joburg stage under the direction of the award-winning South African actress and director Sylvaine Strike. A dark satirical comedy, <em>Tartuffe</em> explores the fragility of the human character and humankind’s propensity towards believing in and seeking false flattery.<br /> <br /> The story follows the antics of the shrewd fortune hunter and conman Tartuffe, who gains control of Orgon, a naive and bigoted rich member of the French bourgeoisie. Under Tartuffe’s directions, Orgon breaks his word and agrees to marry his daughter off to the repulsive Tartuffe. When Orgon's son tries to disagree with this plan Orgon, on Tartuffe's encouragement, banishes his son and signs off his worldly possessions to Tartuffe. Beholden to the conman, only Orgon's family and staff can prevent him from losing everything.<br /> <br /> Moliere wrote the play in 1664 as a satire while he was under the patronage of Louis XIV, commonly known as the Sun King. The play is a brazen attack on the hypocrisy and bigotry of religious men who hold positions of power - as exemplified by the repulsive character Tartuffe, who presents himself as a pious and penitent man of religion in order to worm his way into the affections of the wealthy and easily flattered Orgon. While the Sun King reportedly loved the play, the French church unsurprisingly did not and the Archibishop of Paris ordered it be censored.<br /> <br /> For this staging of the play Sylvaine Strike has chosen to work with Pulitzer prize winning poet Richard Wilbur's iconic 1967 translation. Moliere wrote his play in Alexandrine verse (similar to Shakespeare's iambic pentameter) and Wilbur's modern version, written in rhyming couplets, makes the verse easy to understand for modern audiences while also instilling in this ostensibly disturbing story plenty of humour.<br /> <br /> Particularly outstanding among the cast are Craig Morris, whose physically imposing and occasionally terrifying Tartuffe is brimming with malice and evil intent, and Vanessa Cook who plays the wise and witty old servant Dorine with the perfect balance of physical comedy.