‘Tartuffe’ brings cheers despite minor mistakes
The crowd was all cheers when the cast came out for its final call in the Doudna Fine Arts Center Black Box on Monday.
Even though Dorine lost her shoe in the first half and Damis scared everyone when he burst through the door, mistakes did not bring down the cast.
The Black Box was transformed into the living room of the home of Orgon and his family.
Christopher Mitchell, the director of “Tartuffe,” said “this is a great play for students because it is very funny and very historical.”
“Tartuffe” is a play that could easily be adapted for the Eastern stage.
The original play was based in the 17th century. But for Eastern’s version of the play, Mitchell chose the 1980s as the backdrop because it parallels the famous televangelists scandal in 1987 between Peter Popoff and James Randi.
Along with changing the year, the setting was changed from Paris, France to Louisiana. All the characters had southern accents.
Tim Tholl, a senior theater arts major, thoroughly enjoyed his role because it had a comedic background.
“It made me work on controlling my voice because of the accent,” Tholl said.
Tholl transformed into the character Damis, a hot-headed man trying to make his father see that Tartuffe could not be trusted.
“I paid attention to arguments I was having with my parents,” Tholl said. “I used the extreme emotion of it and took it right on stage.”
Sydney Cassel, a freshman business management major, said the play was a good overall but not the way she imagined it.
“I didn’t really like it because I had to read the original play for class. So I had it pictured differently in my head but I liked the way they modernized it,” Cassel said. “My favorite actor was Dorine because she was very opinionated.”
Mitchell said, “I have no advice for them to improve. I just want them to maintain their energy that they had tonight.”
“Tartuffe” was chosen to perform two years in advance by faculty.
The last showing of “Tartuffe” is at 7 p.m. today. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for Eastern employees and seniors and $12 for general admission.
Cayla Maurer can be reached at 581-2812 or ccmaurer@eiu.edu
‘Tartuffe’ brings cheers despite minor mistakes
Ryan McCain, sophomore theater arts major and Julie Zielinski, sophomore theater arts major play the roles of Valere and Mariane in Tartuffe.(Audrey Sawyer
