The original version of the play was in three acts and was first staged on 12 May 1664 at the Palace of Versailles' Cour de Marbre[14] as part of festivities known as Les Plaisirs de l'île enchantée. Because of the attacks on the play and the ban that was placed on it, this version was never published, and no text has survived, giving rise to much speculation as to whether it was a work in progress or a finished piece. Many writers believe it consisted of the first three acts of the final version, while John Cairncross has proposed that acts 1, 3, and 4 were performed.[15] Although the original version could not be played publicly, it could be given privately,[15] and it was seen on 25 September 1664 in Villers-Cotterêts, for Louis' brother Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, aka Monsieur and 29 November 1664 at the Château du Raincy, for the veteran of the Fronde, Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti.[16]
The second version, L'Imposteur, was in five acts and performed only once, on 5 August 1667 in the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. On 11 August, before any additional performances, the Archbishop of Paris Péréfixe banned this version also. The largely-final, revised third version in five acts, under the title Tartuffe, ou L'Imposteur, appeared on 5 February 1669 at the Palais-Royal theatre and was highly successful.[15] This version was published[17] and is the one that is generally performed today.[15]
Modern productions
Since Molière's time, Tartuffe has stayed on the repertoire of the Comédie-Française, where it is its most performed play.[18]
The Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski was working on a production of Tartuffe when he died in 1938. It was completed by Mikhail Kedrov and opened on 4 December 1939.[19]
The first Broadway production took place at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre in New York and ran from 14 January 1965 to 22 May 1965. The cast included Michael O'Sullivan as Tartuffe, Sada Thompson as Dorine, Salome Jens as Elmire, Hal Holbrook as M. Loyal, John Phillip Law as King's Officer, Laurence Luckinbill as Damis and Tony Lo Bianco as Sergeant.[20]
The National Theatre Company performed a production in 1967 using the Richard Wilbur translation and featuring John Gielgud as Orgon, Robert Stephens as Tartuffe, Jeremy Brett as Valere, Derek Jacobi as The Officer and Joan Plowright as Dorine.[21]
A production of Richard Wilbur's translation of the play opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre in 1977, with John Wood as Tartuffe, and co-starring Tammy Grimes as Elmire, Stefan Gierasch as Orgon, Ray Wise as Damis, Swoosie Kurtz as Mariane and Patricia Elliott as Dorine.[22]
A Royal Shakespeare Company production using the Christopher Hampton translation and directed by Bill Alexander was performed at The Pit Theatre in London in 1983. The production included Antony Sher as Tartuffe, Nigel Hawthorne as Orgon, Mark Rylance as Damis, Alison Steadman as Elmire, Stephanie Fayerman as Dorine and David Bradley as Cleante.[23]
Charles Randolph-Wright staged a production of Tartuffe, July 1999, at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, which was set among affluent African Americans of Durham, North Carolina, in the 1950s.[24]
A translation by Ranjit Bolt was staged at London's Playhouse Theatre in 1991 with Abigail Cruttenden, Paul Eddington, Jamie Glover, Felicity Kendal, Nicholas Le Prevost, John Sessions and Toby Stephens.[25] Bolt's translation was later staged at London's National Theatre in 2002 with Margaret Tyzack as Madame Pernelle, Martin Clunes as Tartuffe, Clare Holman as Elmire, Julian Wadham as Cleante and David Threlfall as Orgon.[26]
David Ball adapted Tartuffe for the Theatre de la Jeune Lune in 2006 and Dominique Serrand revived this production in 2015 in a coproduction with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory and the Shakespeare Theatre Company.[27]
Liverpudlian poet Roger McGough's translation premièred at the Liverpool Playhouse in May 2008 and transferred subsequently to the Rose Theatre, Kingston.[28]
The Royal Shakespeare Company produced a new version by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto which relocated the story to the modern-day Pakistani-Muslim community of Sparkhill, Birmingham. It premiered at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon in September 2018 before transferring to Birmingham Repertory Theatre in October 2022.[29]
In 2022, a feminist reimagining written by Flora Davies and Siân Lawrence was presented at Oxford's BT Studio by Green Sun Productions to great acclaim. This adaptation sets the action within a fictional feminist consultancy firm; Orgon and Elmire become Co-CEOs and Tartuffe a new hire in the office. The production transferred to the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2023.
