Tartuffe
The Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

SET in the Brummie-Pakistani Muslim household of a successful businessman who has become obsessed by a local would-be imam, Iqbal Khan’s production of Tartuffe works a remarkable theatrical alchemy.

One can imagine some devout believers of Birmingham’s large Pakistani Muslim community being as outraged by this treatment of their religion as Louis XIV’s religious establishment when the play originally aroused so much antagonism.

But from the outset Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto’s adaptation, true to Moliere, ensures that the reactions of Imran Pervaiz’s family clearly show that Tartuffe is an out-and-out phoney. Asif Khan as the toothily oily imposter cons his credulous victim with beguiling ease.