Tartuffe is a play that over the years has seen many adaptations. The comedy is known as one of Molière's finest works and has seen playwrights take their own spin on the classic over the years. While the majority of these adaptations have taken place on the theatrical level some have made their way onto the big screen.
Film: Movie adaptation that stray from the original plot and storyline of the play are hard to come by. A couple examples of movies based on the play would be, 'Le Tartuffe' directed by and starring Gérard Depardieu. The French comedy came out on September 5th, 1984 and was a hit at the Canne film festival that year. Depardieu tells the classic story as it is and does not add anything to it in terms of his own creative flair. Another movie based on the play was 'Tartuffe', a German silent film that came out in 1926 produced by Erich Pommer. This adaptation of the film retains the basic plot but does away with the majority of the secondary characters and focuses significantly on what happens between Orgon, Tartuffe and Elmire.
Television: There have not been many adaptations of Tartuffe on television. In France various productions of Tartuffe aired from 1971 to as recently as 1998 and were very popular among French viewers while they aired, though there hasn't been much activity since 1998. In 1978 there was a PBS airing of a taped Tartuffe play starring Donald Moffat as Tartuffe but other than that there has not been much.
Theatre: Where the play truly finds success is within its original form of theatre. There have been countless adaptations of Tartuffe done. An example of one of the more recent ones is 'Molière's Tartuffe', an American Stage adaptation of Tartuffe back in 2016. The play spins the original story line into more modern times by making it about Orgon who is depicted as a wealthy businessman who entrusts his reputation onto an up and coming politician (Tartuffe). Another more recent adaptation of Molière's work took place in Greensboro in 2009 at the Triad Stage. In this adaptation the language is modernized and in English and the plot is a happy family which is tricked by a schemer with bad intentions, so very on brand with the original play. Given how recent these plays are audiences are still interested in Tartuffe and going to actually see the play it is just a shame that there aren't more available to the public.
Sources:
https://americanstage.org/tartuffe/
https://www.playbill.com/article/tartuffe-gets-modern-update-in-world-premiere-adaptation-in-nc-june-7-28-com-161560
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/ct-sta-ent-tartuffe-american-idol-st-1206-20191127-7smklotm2radvfg7rtfguga5vu-story.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartuffe
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