STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
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GORDON PARSONS sees an adaptation of Moliere’s satire on religious hypocrisy translate magnificently from 17th century Paris to 21st century Birmingham
Hypocrisy in action: Asif Khan as Tartuffe
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MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay
MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations
PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son
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.
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