A new sparkling and witty version by Roger McGough of Molière's comedy published as a programme text to accompany the premiere at the Liverpool Everyman on 9 May 2008.
Tartuffe is a beacon of piety and in the home of wealthy merchant Orgon he has his feet firmly under the table. But all is not as it seems and as Orgon becomes more enraptured with his new companion the whole city is chattering. Is he a friend, a fraud, a miracle or a hypocrite? The family smell a rat and amidst the frills and frivolity of seventeenth century society they hatch a cunning plan to outwit the wily deceiver before he brings their house crashing down.
Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664 but the play was banned following its first production in Paris; it wasn't until 1669 that it was revived and became one of his greatest successes.
