Just Opened: Tartuffe

A review of Post5 Theatre's production of Molière's farce.

By KATHRYN PEIFER

Molière's 17th-century comedy Tartuffe gets a Texas twang and country tunes in this rollicking Post5 Theatre production directed by Tobias Andersen. It's the story of unyielding patriarch Orgon (Keith Cable), who is entranced by Tartuffe (Garland Lyons), a slimy charlatan who wears a veneer of religious zeal and lusts after Orgon's wife, Elmire (Christy Drogosch). In Post5's close quarters, it's easy for the actors to let audience members in on their jests. The cast speaks with ease and clarity, turning the rhymed verse into something conversational, and all the while maintaining their Texan accents.


As the maid, Sarah Peters is relentless with snarky stabs and jabs that steer everyone to the truth. Lyons’ performance as Tartuffe is marvelously disgusting: He’s a sleazeball you love to hate. As he sits next to Elmire, stroking her thighs, it’s hard not to cringe and squeeze your own legs together in horror. The production is livelier than the rowdiest of parties, amped up by live guitar, violin and yodeling, and it toys with questions of piety and morality while inciting genuine laughter.

GO: Tartuffe is at Milepost 5, 850 NE 81st Ave., 971-258-8584. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Sundays through March 16. $15 Thursdays-Saturdays; “pay what you can” Sundays. Tickets here.

WWeek 2015

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