Modern Molière
Translations, adaptations, and “transladaptations” of TARTUFFE, THE MISANTHROPE, and other classic Molière comedies
Onstage at Lantern Theater Company September 7 through October 8, 2023, Tartuffe was written by the giant of French comedy Molière in 1664 — but it is translator Richard Wilbur’s words from nearly 300 years later that we will hear. Most productions outside of France rely on such a work of interpretation, asking modern writers to bring the 17th century Frenchman’s text into the current era and the local language. Such an act of translation requires them to make decisions about text and rhyme and gives them the opportunity to examine a classic text through a contemporary lens.
While a modern translator has a hand in the language and the setting, the play’s structure is generally set for them. Molière’s comedies are disciplined pieces of playwriting, generally rooted in a single theme, time, and place — as was the demand of French audiences and intellectuals of the time. But in addition to their streamlined structure, they are also focused in terms of character: Molière’s main characters often have one defining characteristic, flaw, or tendency toward excess that defines them and their increasingly outlandish behavior. If tragic heroes of the ancient Greeks have a tragic flaw, Molière’s main characters (hardly heroes themselves) have a comic one.
Tartuffe may be the title character, but the play’s main character is Orgon, the duped head of the household with a comically huge vulnerability to manipulation. And while Tartuffe may be Orgon’s ultimate antagonist, he isn’t Orgon’s foil. That would Clèante, the play’s raisonneur — a character who quite literally speaks reason; who acts as a counterweight to the main character’s excesses; and who argues for calm, rationality, and the viewpoint of the author. Molière was central to the creation of just such a character, and the raisonneur’s unflagging belief in reason — and the main character’s constant flouting of the raisonneur’s advice — are hallmarks of his comedy.
Molière’s ingenious structure, propulsive pace, and indelible characterizations make his plays as relevant now as they were in 1664. And because they have much to say to us today, modern translations and adaptations of Molière’s plays abound.
Translators must first grapple with the same question: the verse. Molière wrote rhyming couplets in the alexandrine rhythm, in which each line has twelve syllables with emphasis on the middle and final syllable. While this poetic approach works well in French, it can quickly get monotonous and tiresome in English. So, the first decision a modern translator must make is what to do: keep the alexandrines; use prose instead; or split the difference and choose a more English-friendly meter like iambic pentameter, the verse form employed by Shakespeare that generally uses ten syllables and a heartbeat rhythm. This is the decision that Richard Wilbur made when translating the script for Tartuffe that the Lantern’s production uses — the text is in rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter. Wilbur was especially adept at such a choice — he himself was known more as a poet than a dramatist, and he was the second poet laureate of the United States.
Once the rhymes and meter have been decided, translators and adapters must decide whether to remain faithful to the original’s setting or relocate the story to another place and time. Tartuffe is still the most produced play at the Comédie-Française, and it has had nearly 20 major worldwide productions in the last 100 years alone. While many modern productions leave the story in 17th century France, others have moved it across space and time. The Lantern’s production does both; Wilbur’s translation leaves the play in Molière’s Paris, while our production uses his words but is set in the city’s Belle Époque era (roughly 1871 — 1914).
For modern translators looking to put a new stamp on Molière’s original, the religious angle has proven useful. A 1995 version called Tartuffe: Born Again stays quite faithful to the events and relationships of the plot but relocates the action from a wealthy French household to a religious TV studio in Baton Rouge. And in 2013, a version called Tartuffe — And All That Jazz! was published, moving the action to Prohibition-era St. Louis. In both cases, modern verse was used to connect the new setting to the original form without alienating modern-day audiences.
The Misanthrope is another celebrated Molière play that has had many translations and adaptations. Molière’s send-up of social structure has been translated into both verse and prose and moved all over the globe. A 2009 London production starring Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis in a translation by Martin Crimp kept the rhymes but moved the action to present-day London. In this new version, the original play’s heroine is no longer the host of an in-demand salon but a successful film star named Jennifer. And in a 2018 production in Sydney, a new translation swaps the genders, making the title misanthrope a woman.
Playwright David Ives has focused on another approach: the “transladaptation,” as he calls it, which keeps the setting and time, as well as the rhyming couplets, but radically modernizes the text itself. He has done this for a number of classical French comedies, including Molière’s The Misanthrope, which he called The School for Lies (a near-pun on another Molière play, The School for Wives). The School for Lies is an affectionate, freewheeling riff on its source material, keeping the period setting and rhyming couplets, but updating the language to be hilariously modern. Ives also reworks the ending, translating the darkness of Molière’s original into a satisfying and effervescent close. Lantern audiences may be familiar with this approach from two of Ives’ transladaptations of Molière’s near-contemporaries: his spins on Regnard’s The Heir Apparent (seen at the Lantern in 2018) and Corneille’s The Liar (at the Lantern in 2012).
Through the years and across the continents, Molière’s work has continued to illuminate the shadows of society. As his genius and mastery paved the way for French dramatists who followed him, they also offer modern writers who turn to his work the chance to translate both his words and his lessons to our world. After all, in an era where the richest men on earth threaten to cage match each other and where power is no inoculation against public buffoonery, the psychological excess of Molière’s main characters is evident every day in today’s Silicon Valley, academia, pop culture, business, politics, and more. Translating Molière’s work for today’s audiences also translates modern hypocrisies and obsessions to the stage, whether the actors are in jeans or 17th century gowns.
More great reading: See other recent articles and interviews on the Lantern Searchlight blog
Lantern Theater Company’s production of Molière’s Tartuffe, translated into English verse by Richard Wilbur, is onstage September 7 through October 8, 2023, at St. Stephen’s Theater. Visit our website for tickets and information.
