Hubbard Hall’s Theater Company will present one of Moliere’s best known and loved comedy, Tartuffe, directed by John Hadden, weekends February 20 through March 15.
Tartuffe is a scoundrel who can don any pose and become a master of it. Tartuffe, professing extreme piety, is taken into the household of Orgon, a wealthy man. Under the guise of ministering to the family’s spiritual and moral needs, he almost destroys Orgon’s family. Tartuffe is full of hypocrisy gone wild, religious posturing, legal entanglements, and deceit, which all results in a wonderful absurdity.
Considered quite scandalous when first produced in 1664, Tartuffe is now one of the most famous theatrical comedies by Molière. The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among the greatest classical theater roles. In response to criticism of the time Moliere responded “The comic is the outward and visible form that nature’s bounty has attached to everything unreasonable, so that we should see, and avoid, it. To know the comic we must know the rational, of which it denotes the absence and we must see wherein the rational consists . . . incongruity is the heart of the comic”
The Cast of Tartuffe includes returning Hubbard Hall favorites Doug Ryan (The Miser, The Elephant Man, Seascape) as Tartuffe, Peter Delocis (Hadrian VII, Merrily We Roll Along) as Madame Pernelle; Tony Pallone (Ondine, Merrily We Roll Along) as Orgon; Aleda Bliss (Madwoman of Chaillot, As You Like It) as Elmire; Scott Renzoni (King Lear, Ondine, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Amadeus) as Cléante; Kim Johnson Turner (Man of LaMancha, The Elephant Man, Night of the Iguana, A Doll’s House) as Dorine; and, Benjie White (Madwoman of Chaillot, The Drawer Boy) as Monsieur Loyal. The cast is rounded out by newer members of the Company, Jack Boggan as Damis, Delaney Smith as Mariane, Digby Baker-Porazinski as Valère, Adam Shulman as Laurent/Officer and Audrey Roosevelt as Flipote
A pay-what-you-will open rehearsal will take place on Thursday, February 19 at 8 pm. Opening night is Friday, February 20 at 8 pm and is preceded by an Opening Night Dinner at 6 pm. The play continues weekends through March 15 with performances on Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. Please note the additional matinee offerings on Saturdays. Tickets are $27 general admission, $24 members and $15 for students 11 and older. Tickets may be purchased at www.hubbardhall.org, by calling 518-677-2495, or at the door.
Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education, located in a renovated 1878 rural opera house and adjacent former freight yard complex, is a community arts center dedicated to bringing the best of the arts to the region. Hubbard Hall is located at 25 East Main Street in Cambridge.