BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Illinois Wesleyan University School of Theatre Arts will present Tartuffe, a play by renowned 17th century French playwright Molière, with translation by Richard Wilbur. Performances will take place at McPherson Theatre (2 Ames Plaza East, Bloomington) at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14 to Saturday, Feb. 18, with a matinee at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19.
Tickets will be available for purchase Monday, Feb. 6. General admission ticket prices range from $10 for performances Tuesday through Thursday, and the matinee on Sunday, to $12 for performances Friday and Saturday. Senior citizens receive a $1 discount off the general admission price and students may purchase tickets for $2 with a valid Illinois Wesleyan ID.
First staged in Versailles in 1664 and composed of almost 2,000 rhyming couplets, the play follows the story of a man, Orgon, and his mother who take in the apparently pious Tartuffe. Orgon’s family, however, is not convinced by Tartuffe’s feigned righteousness. Determined to reveal Tartuffe for the fraud that he is, a plan is set to entrap him by exposing his lust for Orgon’s wife Elmire.