Tartuffified

I have been preparing for an audition for Tartuffe, the classic comedy by Moliere. I was excited to see the theater is using a translation that retains the verse by Richard Wilbur.  As a former translator myself, I cannot imagine how difficult this must have been; to retain the sparkling wit, the accuracy of the language, and poetry.  I understand that you can't just literally translate a play, it would be almost non-performable, and that any translation will be imperfect by the very nature of the act.  I don't really mean to criticize any given translation, for heaven knows Christopher Hampton is an amazing adapter of plays such as "Dangerous Liaisons" and Chekhov's "The Seagull."  I'm sure his translation is lovely, but it is in blank verse, and Moliere wrote in rhymes.  Does this pose difficulties for the actor? Certainly.  It is difficult not to fall into the sing-song trap, since we do not generally speak in rhyming couplets.  Neither did Elizabethans in Shakespeare's time, nor I suspect did the average Frenchman in the 17th century.  Why should acting Moliere be any easier for the English actor than the French, who has to deal with the verse whether he wants to or not?  After all, the French have no other version to use, much like the English have no other version of Shakespeare to fall back on, although I imagine there are blank prose translations of Shakespeare in other languages.

I personally think it only fair for the English speaking actor to have to wrestle with the rhyme scheme the same way the French would have to. I studied French and French literature in college for a while, until I gave up in favor of Russian.  I read parts of "Phaedre" in the original, which is also in verse.  It was just how French playwrites wrote at the time.  I also had the chance to do a scene from Tartuffe, Act II scene 3, in French, with an actress friend who was also studying French at the time.  (We did it as a project for her class.)  I played Dorine, the quick-witted maid, and Tonya played Mariane, the daughter who is being forced to marry Tartuffe. 

 Victoria Poulakis has a very interesting site on the importance of translation on performance.  Of course you can never get a perfect translation. Some nuance, or depth of meaning will always be lost. It's the nature of the beast, and she discusses it in some depth.  I must applaud the translators who provide a copy that is performable and captures the essence of Molier's wit, to render the rhyme intact is a feat I cann barely imagine.  So my hat is off to Richard Wilbur. 


WILBUR:
DORINE.  What of Tartuffe, then?
   What of your father's plan?

MARIANE.  I'll kill myself, if I'm
   forced to wed that man.
DORINE.  I hadn't thought of that
   recourse. How splendid!
Just die, and all your troubles will
  be ended!
A fine solution. Oh, it maddens me
To hear you talk in that self-pitying
  key.