Light knife
Tartuffe many-sided; has humor, thought
By LINDA BROWN |
Emerald Entertainment Editor j
“Tartuffe," now being present- j
ed by the University Theatre, is
a richly humorous, scathing at-1
tack upon religious hypocrites.
Louis XIV himself liked the
play but would not permit public
performance for fully five years
after it had been written be-1
cause many took it as an attack
upon the church.
“Tartuffe” was an extraordin
ary advance in Moliere's concep
tion of comedy. It had a large
ness of theme and boldness of
social satire that was missing
from his previous plays. For the 1
first time he fused comedy-of
character with comedy-of-man- j
ners.
IN ‘TARTUFFE,” Moliere has
given us a comic play which is
more than a mere comic play. It;
arouses laughter, but at the same
time, it makes 11s think even more
than it makes us laugh. Moliere
imposes a comic aspect upon a
theme in itself far from comic.!
Moliere may not be a deliber
ate moralist, but in every play
vie have a picture of life, which
provides the laughter we ex- j
pect in comic drama, but which j
warns us against yielding to
evil. In “Tartuffe” he shows the
possible disintegration of the fam
iij in consequence of a single
corroding vice.
To Moliere the family institu
tion was sacred. Whatever endan
gered the security of the fam-1
ilv was to be denounced and ex-1
posed as a warning and a lesson.
Moliere makes us see the dire
effects of Tartuffe's hyprocrisy
and of Orgon’s creduilitv.
THE ATMOSPHERE of the
comedy is French: the scene is'
the interior of a French house-1
hold and nearly all the characters
belong to a single French fam-1
ilv.
Tartuffe. a rascally hypocrite.!
has ingratiated himself with Or
gon. a wealthy businessman. Or
gon believes him to be the foun
tainhead of goodness and piety.
By degrees Tartuffe dominates
the household, living on Orgon's
money, running the affairs of
everyone in the family, and even
making advances to Orgon’s wife.
Only the women of the house
hold. the wife and maid, know
Tartuffe for what he is; Orgon
is completely under his spell. This
infatuaiton estranges Orgon from
his family: he attempts to be
troth his daughter to Tartuffe,
and disinherits his son to make j
Tartuffe his heir; he deeds his
house and property to Him: and
reveals to the hypocrite certain!
secret papers that would incrim
inate him politically.
HE IS FINALLY persuaded by I
his family to hide under a tabic !
while Tartuffe talks with his
wife. When Orgon hears Tar-1
Uiffe declare that his love to j
her. he is at last disillusioned. I
But Tartuffe holds such power i
by now that he threatens to turn |
Orgon out of his house and)
hon e ami even to have him im
prisoned. Only tiie direct inter
vention of the King, leading to!
Turtuffe's imprisonment f o r
fraud, saves the day.
ON THE WHOLE, the Univer
sity Theatre's production is com
pi tent enough to warrant the ca
pacity crowd it entertained last
Friday night. It is hard, however,
to review the production. Like
the poem about the girl with a
curl. “When she's good, she's
very, very good ami when she's j
bad. she's horrid.”
Well, not horrid. Not enough1
to keep you away front the play,
anyway, for it has bright spark
ling moments of comedy and good
acting. The production's main
fault lies in its unevenness.
HOWEVER, this unevenness
can’t be blamed entirely on direc
tor Lawrence Wtsmer. Much of
it is due to the acting ability of
his principals.
Dorlne, the maid (played by
Lynn Ash), should lighten up all
the scenes in which she takes
part. She is out-spoken and never
hesitates to give her opinion on
alt subjects even before being
asked. She is a truly comic char
acter and as played by Miss Ash,
often was. At times Miss Ash
could be funny, and effective; hI
other Hires it might have been i
better if she hadn't been on stage. |
Another problem of hers was that ]
of unnatural hand movements —
and this was quite distracting, j
CLKANTE, THE brother-in-j
law of Orgon, as played by John j
Odmark, was another example of |
this "unevenness." Cleante's j
speehes were extremely impor- (
Hint because they carried Mol
iere's points on religion and piety.)
Delivered by Odmark they were!
seldom exciting, if interesting. |
This can’t be entirely blamed on
Odmark people always seem to i
prefer comic remarks to serious,!
•'intellectual’’ dissertations. How- I
ever, Odmark could have made I
his speec hes in a more interest
ing manner, more often because
he didn’t always fail in his task.
(Continued mi 7 / /,• 7)
THE BELL TELEPHONE COMPANIES
SALUTE: LOREN GERGENS
Three years ago he was an economics major in college.
Today he is a salesman introducing Bell System products
and services to business executives. Loren Gergens and
his sales staff have improved the communications efficiency
of many firms by analyzing their operations and rec
ommending advanced Bell System products and services.
Loren Gergens of Mountain States Telephone & Tele
graph Company, and the other young men like him in
Bell Telephone Companies throughout the country, help
make your communications service the finest in the world.
BELL TELEPHONE COMPANIES
Lampus Driers
• Rally Board and squad will meet at
noon in the SC. ttonm will hr potted.
• Krcshmon—watch this column for Keg
Hunt chic*. Keg Hunt will hr Friday,
Xov. 17, at 4 p.m. Winning dorm* keep
keg anti contents (?).
• WRA House Representatives will
meet in the SC at 12:30 today.
• There will be no meetings of the
YWCA House Council until altar Thanks*
giving.
• Petitions for fall junior class ski trip
chairmanship* are due Wednesday at 5
p.m. in tile ASl'O petition box: general
chairman .transportation, lodging, entet ■
tainment, ticket sales are thr position* open.
• On Thanksgiving week-end. the library
will observe the following hours Saturday,
November 25. V a m. 12 ih*oi» ; Sunday,
November Jo, 2 p.m. 9 pm.
• Architecture Student Wives will meet
in thr Faculty Room of Lawrence Hull
on Tuesday at 7:30. Dies* will he play
clothes.
• The Political Science Club will meet
Thursday, November 1f» at noon in the
SC Dr i/Titrr Srligman, Dept •>{ Po
litical Science, will speak on **F-lucati<-n
and Political Cliange in Israel," Room
w ill he posted: bring your own lunch or
buy it there.
EVERY
COLLEGE
STUDENT
needs this
book
to increase
his ability to
learn
An understanding of the truth
contained in Science and
Health with Key to the Scrip
tures by Mary Baker Bddy can
remove the pressure which con
cerns today’s college student
upon whom increasing de
mands are being made for
academic excellence.
Christian Science calms fear
and gives to the student the full
assurance he needs in order to
learn easily and to evaluate
what he has learned. It teaches
that God is man’s Mind —his
only Mind—from which ema
nates all the intelligence he
needs, when and as he needs it.
Science and Health, the text
book of Christian Science, may
be read or examined, together
- with the Bible, in an atmos
phere of quiet and peace, at any
Christian Science Reading
■loom. Information about Sci
:nce and Health may also be ob
tained on campus through the
Christian Science
Organization at
l niversity of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Meeting time
6:30 Sundays
Meeting place
Student Union