Tartuffe

Comedy in Five Acts, 1669

Richard Wilbur’s verse translation of Tartuffe has been acclaimed as a masterpiece in its own right. Set in rhymed couplets, it captures not only the tone of the original but the dramatic energy as well. Not surprisingly, the play in this translation has been performed regularly over the years. One of Moliere’s most popular plays, Tartuffe, written in 1669, tells the story of Orgon, a rich bourgeois who has become a prude and bigot in his middle age. He is the perfect mark for Tartuffe, a wily opportunist and swindler, who ingratiates himself with Orgon by affecting an air of piety. Soon the gulled Orgon not only hands over his fortune but offers his daughter in marriage to Tartuffe. But Orgon discovers his “spiritual” master’s true nature in a most shocking and hilarious fashion.