Moliere was from a wealthy family and a front runner in the establishment of commedia dell' arte. He wes educated and his comedy showed that. It was also easily related to "everyman". His flagrent criticism of royalty often got him in trouble. His family position and relationship with the king saved him from punishment. It is important to keep this in mind when thinking of performing this play. Much of the comedy won't be found if we don't look through the magnifying glass of history!
Moliere started his "career" at an early age by poking fun at the aristocracy. according to http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc35.html he much preferred this to actually associating with them. This attitude is clearly tipified in Tartuffe, his most famous play. According to this site Molieres first production took place on an adapted tennis court and failed miserably along with the following number of productions.
A turning point for Moliere was on the evening of October24, 1658 when his troupe performed for Louis XIV. This was also less than successful because they foolisly performed a tragedy rather than a comedy.

Some fun Moliere quotes from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/moliere.html

Books and marriage go ill together

As the purpose of comedy is to correct the vices of men, I see no reason why anyone should be exempt.

Don't appear so scholarly, pray. Humanize your talk, and speak to be understood.

Lobby Display

These are some pictures that might appear in a lobby display. The hand off of the book is very much more modern and an easy image to relate to for our audience in 2009.

The painting is a more literal and more realistic representation of Early Modern France. This composition is a sort of contrast between the times and adds a timeless quality to the display.

Character Breakdown:
MadamePernelle: Old woman , completely taken in by Tartuffe for the majority of the play.
Orgon: as described by http://www.bard.org/Education/studyguides/tartuffe/tartuffechar.html
ORGON, husband of Elmire, son of Madame Pernelle, and father of Mariane and Damis, is the central character of the play and comes entirely under the influence of the hypocrite Tartuffe. Yet, whereas Tartuffe is the obvious hypocrite and scoundrel, Orgon is a much more complex character. Thus, Orgon’s religious fanaticism seems more directly correlated to his basic nature, which is characterized by Cléante as being extravagant and uncontrolled in all respects. Thus, having once adopted a life of piety, Orgon tries to become the epitome of the pious person and goes to absurd extremes both in his words and deeds. In contrast, when he discovers the hypocrisy of Tartuffe, he reverses himself and determines to hate and persecute all pious men.

And Tartuffe: A con artist hypocrit who can adopt any character to trick his "mark". His downfall turns out to be his over confidence.

Raise your hand if you hate the three stooges. . . Ok you ara all fired. The rerst of you. This play is sort of like the more speaking version of the three stooges. It is also a little more serious. : ( We know the stock characters and the physical comedy is a given. Alot of what we need to focus on is the improv. It is often overlooked in productions of Early Modern Italy. Just be glad we are working on this rather than a Pastoral!
La Mandragola was written by Niccolo Machiavelli and is widely known as jis finest work. It is the story of Callimaco who hears of a beautiful woman in his home land. He returns home and decides he must have her, only trouble is she's married. Callimaco enlists the help of Ligurio a marriage broker who is described in the script as a parasite. Machiavelli then writes an entertaining story of disguise and ridiculous situations.
The following is some notes on Machiavelli and La mandragola from http://www.emachiavelli.com/Mandrasum.htm
When Ligurio says to Nicia that "someone like you, who remains all day in his study, understands those books but is unable to discuss the things of the world" Lord suggests that this may be the true feelings of Machiavelli towards Soderini. How Machiavelli felt about Soderini is important for continuing the allegory. Lord points to Machiavelli's epigram on Soderini to provide further evidence of Machiavelli's contempt for Soderini:"The night Piero Soderini died, his soul went to the mouth of Hell, and Pluto cried out to it: Foolish soul, why Hell? Go to Limbo with the children."

Comedy is huge in Early Modern Italy! Things like comedia dell' arte and commedia erudita are invented. The people want to laugh when they go to the theatre. Playwrights need to be careful though. It is ok for characters to be critical of royalty but NOT real people. This is why these two new forms of comedy are invented. In The Mandrake Root we should keep in mind that this play was an honor for for a marriage. The marriage of the son of Piero the Gouty, Lorenzo de'Medici. This was meant to be performed for a certain audience and Machiavelli knew that. The way this needs to be performed today (to do justice to the script) is as if the audience is the characters' personal friend.
Commedia dell Arte literally means comedy of art or commedy of the profession. It is based on improvisation and emphasis is on the "manner of performance" rather than the "sbbject matter of the play." http://www.theatrehistory.com/italian/commedia_dell_arte_001.html. Commedia dell Arte flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but was around for four hundred years and exsisted before and after this time, according to the above mentioned source.