.:Review:. The Hypocrite

The Hypocrite

The Hypocrite

Melbourne Theatre Company

• The set-design was constructed of 3 large white walls that were covered in wallpaper with a white design. This created the feeling of openness, as it made the set appear bigger than it actually was.
• As the curtains rose, our eyes were immediately drawn to the 22 chandeliers that were hanging from the top of the stage. They were an eclectic mix of different shapes, colours and sizes, all from different eras. These may have been used to represent the wealth of the family.
• There was also a large cardboard box which was used as an exit for characters, for example, during the scene in which Tartuffe is being proved to be a hypocrite, Orgon moves from one hiding place to the next. Orgon was put under the box which had been carefully placed over a trap door.
• As Orgon moved from this hiding spot, he managed to find his way to the next exit/entrance, the ornate wardrobe. This wardrobe was not only used as an exit/entrance, it was also used to store items of clothing which were symbolic of the characters personalities and also store other props such as a silver plate which holds a bottle of spirits and 2 glasses.
  

  Marina Prior and Gary McDonald

• There were also 2 small gift boxes which were used to hold Madame Pernelle’s personal affects, such as her shoes.
• 2 couches were used as seats, mostly for Orgon’s family. Tartuffe only sat on there a few times when Orgon was not there to see and once when he was telling the news to Orgon that he is going to evict him and his family.
• At the beginning of the play, I wondered why there was a glass table being used as part of the set, however its use revealed itself during the scene in which Tartuffe was being found out as a result of Elmire’s devious plan. The last hiding place of Orgon’s is under the clear table on which Tartuffe has trapped Elmire.
• Also located on the stage were 2 plastic chairs, one white, and one orange. There was much debate over the symbolism of the 2 plastic chairs, I concluded that anybody who sat in or used the chairs were those that were in dire need of help.
• Also, I concluded that the chairs were used to symbolize status. If you were sitting on a plastic chair, you were of lower status, this is shown when Tartuffe uses one of the plastic chairs as a foot-stool whilst sitting on the couch, it was symbolic of him moving up in status.
• A glass window was inserted into the back wall. Through this window was a man who sat on a seat playing electric guitar whilst being recorded.
• Also, unbeknown to the audience, the back wall split into 2 separate parts and revealed a spiral staircase that slowly span around in a circular motion. The wall opened to reveal a cross shape, this symbolized the religious significance of the event.
• The makeup used could be recognized as street makeup. Apart from Madame Pernelle’s unique blue eye shadow and pink lipstick, there were no special characteristics about this particular style of makeup used.
• The costumes were not from the same particular era, but were a universal mix of costumes from different eras.
  

  Gary McDonald and Mandy McElhinney

• Garry McDonald plays Orgon, a wealthy, pious character who trusts and devotes himself to Tartuffe, as he believes it will help him become a better person and will ensure him a path into heaven. Orgon wears silver knee-high boots with laces up the front of them, saggy cream coloured jodhpurs being held up with floral suspenders, a white shirt and a lime-coloured velvet jacket. This costume truly portrayed this character’s personality: ridiculously idiotic and naïve.
• He becomes flustered easily and will not listen to anybody’s advice concerning the unholy nature of Tartuffe. This is shown by Orgon’s fast-paced rhythm when talking and erratic gestures. He portrays this character very well, making Tartuffe his main priority, even abandoning his son, Damis.
• He also uses his space to his advantage, moving around the room when boasting his love for Tartuffe, which happens on many occasions.
• Marina Prior plays Elmire, Orgon’s wife. She is dressed in a contemporized version of a 19^th century white patterned dress, including a corset and a small shoal made from lace. Later in the performance, when trying to reveal Tartuffe as a hypocrite to her wife, she is forced to wear nothing except white lingerie. Her white costume may reflect her character to symbolize purity and her good intentions.
• She is a graceful character and is influenced as a character by the Laban movements, she is a character who presses, dabs, floats and glides.
• Prior appears to the audience as quite a comical throughout the performance as a result of her witty remarks regarding family conflicts.
• Peter Evan’s had created Damis into quite a different type of character, he had chosen to make him an Emo. Damis was dressed in bright-orange skinny jeans accompanied by a tight orange top. He wore black runners and had his hair died black and in the style of an Emo. He also had a eyebrow piercing and appeared to be wearing eyeliner, also characteristics of an Emo. I did not quite understand this as the hypocrite seems to be
  

  Elmire, Damis and Mariane

  targeted at an older audience, however many of the older audience did not recognize the jokes made which were influenced by Damis being an Emo.

• However his clothes did fit his personality as well as his attitude, which was a combination of swearing, screaming and sobbing.
• Mariane was an interesting character. As she is a very difficult character to play, it was hard to like what Justin Fleming did to this character. She was costumed in a small velvet pink dress with pink shoes and this truly portrayed her character. Again, just as in the adaptation of Tartuffe by Louise Fox performed previously in the year, Mariane was portrayed as a blonde, stubborn, selfish and spoilt girl. It was sometimes very difficult to understand what Mariane was trying to say, she was far too quiet and when she was supposed to be loud and objective, I could barely understand what she was saying.

• Valere was very much a boy-version of Mariane. He was dressed in a baby-blue velvet costume, which was just the opposite of Mariane. As pink and blue are the traditional girl and boy colours for young children, Mariane and Valere can be seen as representing the young stereotypical society of the modern day in contrast with Damis who is a non-conforming teenager of the modern day.
• Madame Pernelle (Kerry Walker) was a rather boisterous character, dressed in a striped green and brown dress. She was portrayed as a grandmother who always should be regarded as the person with the most important opinion. She appeared to know best about what was good for her family and for Tartuffe. She had a very Australian accent accompanied by slow, clear and loud pronunciation of her words, especially when dealing with the difficult rhythm of the translated text.
• Dorine, the servant and companion to Mariane, was again typically portrayed as a nosy, loud-mouthed character who always had something to say. She was dressed in a short, grey dress which again suited a contemporary version of a 19^th century dress. Her hair was quite non-naturalistic in comparison to that of
  

  Bret Labonte & Kim Gyngell

  the rest of the characters as it was in an oddly shaped bun. As the maid, she acted very well, however she did have trouble with the delivery of some of her sentences. This would most likely be due to the difficult rhyme in which Justin Fleming had created his script.

• And finally Tartuffe (Kim Gyngell), played the pious, feverous priest who appears to concern himself primarily with the happiness of others based on religion. However it is later revealed that he has other intentions as he tries to seduce Elmire, Orgon’s wife. This proves more difficult than he expects. Tartuffe is costumed in what appeared to be a 60’s costume, dressed in black suit pants and a black turtle-necked skivvy.  His hair was oily and he wore thick black glasses with lenses so thick they made his eyes appear much more bulgy than they normally would have been. This truly reflected Tartuffe’s personality; a sleazy, dirty man.

• It was interesting to see how Evan’s portrayed this character in comparison to the other characters. In some ways, Tartuffe could almost be pitied for having his unfortunate looks and lack of money, we are left disliking the family. However for a majority of the play, the audience are left to really dislike Tartuffe, and take pity of the family, when in fact it is us that need to realise that the family are getting their just deserve for acting the way they do.
• The language throughout this performance was sometimes a little difficult to understand, however, it apparently appeared to be a mixture of quatrains and rhyming couplets accompanied by some colloquial language. Also, as the rhythm was fast-paced, it wasn’t exactly always clear what the performers were saying.
• The props used in this performance of The Hypocrite included a chocolate bar eaten by Damis, an umbrella, 2 bags, box and handkerchief all matching Madame Pernelle’s dress, gold shoes worn by Madame Pernelle and a large, ridiculous-looking purple hat also worn by Madame Pernelle. There were also many items in the wardrobe, such as Tartuffe’s ‘hair’ shirt, Madame Pernelle’s overcoat, gift boxes and drinks.
• There were 4 main exits in the play, and one other was revealed to us at the end of the play. The cardboard box was used as a covering for a trap-door exit which led to the wardrobe. The base of the wardrobe had an exit also. Many new props appeared every time a character would open the wardrobe door. There was also a small door located at stage right and a large set of double-doors to stage left.
  

  Elmire, Mariane, Orgon and Valere

• The lighting appeared to be very basic throughout the play, there were minimal coloured lights used, only differing colours of blue to create a darkened set, which increased the tension in the audience as they knew something was going to happen. Also, the stage left double-doors were quite symbolic when accompanied by lighting. Strong yellow-coloured lights streamed through the door to symbolize heaven, and as Tartuffe is found out and evicted, there is a harsh red light which is used to symbolize hell.