Fall play takes students back to France

As the curtains slowly opened on Oct. 20, audience members were faced with a sofa, dinner table and various chairs scattered around, which constituted the Orgon household. Then, senior Penny Burgess began the play, “Tartuffe,” with a long-winded speech about the failings of humanity, drawing the audience into the play for the next two hours.

The cast of the “Tartuffe” was able to showcase its hard work on its opening night and twice on Oct. 22. “Tartuffe” was the first SHS play directed by the new drama teacher Karen Babbit.
“Tartuffe,” which was written by French playwright Moliere, is set during the reign of Louis XIV, which was during 1638 to 1715. Because of Moliere’s use of complex language in the play, students found their lines difficult to master.

Senior Joshua Harris, who played the main antagonist and titular character, Tartuffe, said his lines were the most difficult out of all shows he has participated in.

“The [biggest] problem I faced was the language,” Harris said. “It’s probably the most lines-difficult show of any show I’ve been a part of. It was an exciting challenge to convey Moliere’s verse in a way that demonstrated its humor, without compromising the integrity of the ‘period piece.’”

In addition to learning the lines, the cast members also had to express their character through their body language, a daunting task. Burgess had to channel the actions of Madame Pernelle, an elderly woman.

“Character-wise, I worked a lot on developing facial expressions and body movements that would make sense with my character, a bitter and talkative old woman,” Burgess said.

Yet, inevitably, the show experienced some difficulties on opening night.

“My skirt came unpinned during the first scene of the opening night show and I had to hold on for dear life throughout the entire scene,” Burgess said.

Senior Ariella Yendler, who played Elmire, the character who is normal compared to the other characters, also found the intricate costumes a challenge.

“Our costumes were very difficult to get in and out of, and we always had to be wig-conscious. In addition, [senior] Valerie [Peterson] and I had these wire panniers on to expand our hips according to the fashion, and because we were always rolling around [for the play], we had to keep reshaping them backstage,” Yendler said.

In spite of the difficulties, the cast and crew managed to pull off a successful series of shows. The turnout was better than what they had originally expected and the actors were able to feed off the energy of the audience.

“The audience turnout was way better than I personally expected, and they responded really well to the show,” Burgess said. “It always boosts the energy of the cast when we have a responsive audience. Getting laughs always makes us feel better how the show is going.”

The play’s unusual plot led to some memorable experiences for the actors.

“[One of the main highlights was] the second scene I had with [Harris] in Act Two, where I try to ‘seduce’ him,” Yendler said. “That was wild and really, really fun.”

Harris also enjoyed the various idiosyncrasies of the play, as well as some of the more bizarre scenes.

“Spending about half of the show giving speeches with fruit in my mouth [was another highlight],” Harris said.

The audience members also appreciated the work behind the costumes and acting.
“I thought it was very well put together. Their costumes were really great, and it was really funny,” junior Olivia Whiting, who saw the play on [Oct. 22], said.

In the end, despite a number of often-unusual obstacles and challenges, the cast was able to pull the show off seamlessly.

“The show went very well. The costumes and set looked fantastic, and the actors, particularly the freshmen, really stepped up their game,” Harris said.