The production was updated to the current day and set in back yard of a rich family in Connecticut.
The set had just one long wall along the back with only one door which led to what was supposed to be a sauna.
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| Tartuffe, 1987 |
A little smoke from a fog machine would flow out each time the door was opened.
The front of the stage had a pit extension with a cut out to represent a swimming pool complete with a diving board and chrome ladder coming up out of the water.
Downstage right a hot tub was built into the stage.
The hot tub was really a large oval horse trough with a plastic liner and we filled it each night just before the show with about 100 gallons of very hot water.
By the time the water was used it was just about room temperature.
After each show that water was bucketed out and dumped and fresh water added before each show.
Fun.
One of my favorite moments was the seduction scene that took place in the tub as Tartuffe chased after Elmire.
Later in the play Orgon would fall, fully dressed, into the tub.
Yes I have a photo of him falling someplace and will, along with many others, scan it and post it here.
As can be seen in the photos there also was a large canvas “Sail” above the set.
I was never sure what the scene designer had in mind with it and I do not think I did the best job in lighting it but I tried.
Like most plays I have worked on, I did enjoy this production but felt that there were too many non-students in the cast for me.
The non-students were very good and it made for a stronger production but because we are a college I always like to see the students get a chance to act and design when possible.
When we did the play again twenty years later (2007) the entire cast was made up of student actors.
For that production the director set the production into the past to the 1980’s which made it the same time frame as the production noted here.
The newer production was done with a different script and a much broader comic style.
The ending was fun and there is a short video on YouTube of part of it.
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| Tartuffe, 2007 |
I was allowed more backstage creativity by designing the special aging makeup on a student who needed to appear to be the oldest man alive. I think we spent almost two hours each show day, applying an age mask. For fun, we used to make a distracting neck goiter larger with each performance, until it required its curtail call.
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