The other family members share the sentiments of the housemaid Dorine, who is outraged by the sway the clergyman holds over her master. They scheme to find a way to convince Orgon that Tartuffe is a hypocrite of the worst kind. Orgon remains unequally unmoved by the warnings of his brother Cléante and the entreaties of Mariane––the daughter he has promised in marriage to the impostor. It will take all the cunning of Orgon’s wife Elmire for him to finally open his eyes to Tartuffe’s intentions. As the latter is on the point of being driven from the house, he brandishes a deed that names him as the new owner. It is only a royal intervention, a veritable Deus ex machina, that saves the family from ruin in the end.

Molière, the author
Author, actor, troupe leader, Molière embodies the essence of theatre practitioner, committed to his art and the society of his time while creating a body of work for posterity. The Comédiens-Français have taken up his legacy by making him their “boss”, performing his theatre for over three centuries. As a symbol of this spiritual presence, “Molière’s chair” welcomes spectators into the gallery of busts which adjoins the dress circle.

Galin Stoev, the director
The Bulgarian director, Galin Stoev lives and works in Belgium, France and Bulgaria. At the Comédie-Française, he has directed Spiro Scimone’s La Festa (2007), Hanoch Levin’s Sweet Revenge and Other Sketches (2008), Corneille’s L’Illusion Comique (2008) and Marivaux’s The Game of Love and Chance (2011). Elsewhere he has also directed Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love and Ferenc Molnár’s Liliom. In his view, more than a character, Tartuffe is a syndrome that circulates among the different protagonists, revealing the conflicts and paradoxes of human nature. Through Tartuffe we are given to observe the tug-of-war between trust and manipulation, reason and fanaticism, lust and spirituality, these oscillations that define intimate dimension of our humanity.