Steve Price Photo by Robin Jackson

Ross Valley Players has chosen Tartuffe to open its 2025-26 season in a production directed by Adrian Elfenbaum and set in Los Angeles in the late 1960s. RVP regular Steve Price (who is also listed as producer) plays Tartuffe, and it is his work–and that of several other cast members–that almost saves this production from the ham-fisted direction, sing-song delivery of the text, and one very over-the-top performance that combine to sink this classic comedy.

As with the original French text, Richard Wilbur's translation, which is used here, is written entirely in verse. Although this can be charming when done well–as Tamar Cohn, who plays Mme. Pernelle, Emily Anderson (the maid, Dorine), and Price himself do–the cast far too often fall into a sing-song pattern, hitting the rhymes too hard. This has the effect of having the audience waiting for the next rhyme to fall, rather than paying attention to what the text is saying. It also results in a pace that lacks variation and interferes with the comic timing of Molière's work.

If you are unfamiliar, Tartuffe tells the story of a ne'er-do-well vagrant who wheedles his way into the good graces of Orgon (Douglas Nolan), a well-to-do homeowner whose daughter Mariane (Chloris Li) is betrothed to young Valere (Eliot Hall). Both Orgon and his mother, Mme. Pernelle (Tamar Cohn), are perfectly besotted by Tartuffe, to the point that Orgon threatens to break the engagement to Valere in order to have his daughter wed the falsely-pious Tartuffe. More than that, Orgon is so taken by Tartuffe's scheme that he promises to give all he owns to the con man, thereby disinheriting his son Damis (a delightful Nic Moore). Even though Tartuffe makes no secret of his lust for Orgon's wife Elmire, at least when Orgon is out of sight, Orgon refuses to believe Elmire when she tells him of Tartuffe's bawdy advances on her.

Ultimately, through subterfuge and some royal interference, Tartuffe's scheme will end badly for him, and everyone else will end up happily ever after.

While WIlbur's text includes some clever rhymes, even within some complex sentence structures, most of the cast fall into the trap of speaking in a metronomic sing-song that completely pulled me out of nearly every scene. If it weren't for Price, Cohn, Anderson and Moore, who manage to speak the verse in a more flowing, naturalistic manner, this would have been a very painful two hours and fifteen minutes for me.

As it is, most of the pain comes from Douglas Nolan's portrayal of the nobleman Orgon. Nolan is completely out of tune with his scene partners, pulling faces, goggling his eyes, shrieking his lines, and generally overplaying the role. His bio in the program states that he has been "clowning and juggling professionally for more than 30 years," which may explain his approach to the role, misguided though I believe it to be. I hate to be cruel, but I hated every moment he was on stage.

Though Nolan's antics threaten to overwhelm every scene he's in, there are other, more delicate–and far funnier–performances to be seen. Steve Price, whose work has grown on me over the years, is terrific here. Dressed in a Mister Rogers-esque red cardigan and khakis, he appears harmless enough, but he uses a slightly squeaky-raspy voice and evocative eyes to let us see the evil intentions underneath. It's some of the best work Price has done–never drifting into parody, but letting Molière's snarky satire peek through his simple-man-of-faith façade.

Tamar Cohn plays Orgon's mother with a delightfully officious air, and a sense of privilege that lets us know she's used to getting things her way. As the maid, Dorine, Emily Anderson is also able to quash the instinct to sing-song the rhymes, letting the text flow much more naturally. Finally, Nic Moore brings a significant charm to a relatively minor role. Watching his subtle, yet evocative reactions to what is going on around him is one of the highlights of the evening.

For me, directors do their best work when I don't notice it. If their choices feel natural and come directly from the text (and subtext) of a play, their hard work usually comes off as effortless. Here it feels as though Elfenbaum–who did such a marvelous job with last season's It's a Wonderful Life, A Live Radio Play–let the challenge of making the verse feel naturalistic slip between the cracks while blocking a play with a relatively large cast in a relatively small space. What's more, though he chose to set the play in 1960s Los Angeles, the only references to this are the music that plays pre-show, top of show, and at intermission, and in the mid-century furnishings that occupy Mikiko Uesugi's set design. The references to kings and lords and sabers and foils and forced marriages feel wildly out of place.

Ross Valley Players has been upping their game over the past few seasons, but this production of Tartuffe feels like a step backwards.

Tartuffe runs through October 12, 2025, at The Barn Theatre, Marin Art and Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross CA. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. The performance in Saturday, September 27 is at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices are $45 general admission, $30 for those under 18. For tickets and information, please visit www.rossvalleyplayers.com or call 415-456-9555, ext. 3.