TARTUFFE by Moliere comedy" is a modern term, Moliere was a master of the genre over three centuries ago. His characters have a schizophrenic quality; their glib and merry lips belie broody, troubled hearts. The present production of Tartuffe at Manhattan's Circle in the Square Theater is infectiously high-spirited, but it scants the biting melancholy wisdom that animates Moliere's satiric moral vision. Fortunately, wading only knee-deep in Moliere is more bracing than total immersion in most playwrights.
He was the god of common sense.
While tragedy moves from sanity toward self-destruction, comedy moves from self-delusion toward preservative sanity. In his pride, the...
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