Mark Rylance is bringing fresh energy to a 362-year-old French comedy. The acclaimed British actor stars in Tartuffe (Remixed), a modern adaptation of Molière’s 1664 play about a religious con artist who preys on a devout family. Writer-director Darren Raymond has relocated the story to a wedding celebration uniting Jamaican and Nigerian clans.
Rylance’s character, renamed Pastor Blake, deploys false teeth and an oily comb-over while clutching a Bible like a manbag stuffed with gold. The performance extends England’s long tradition of comedy vicars, though this time with a twist. Both families in the production appear to be Anglican, with one character lamenting the colonial legacy of Christian missionaries.
Molière’s original work sparked fierce controversy. The Catholic archbishop of Paris threatened excommunication for anyone who attended, forcing the French playwright to create a revised version called The Impostor. Recent British adaptations have similarly updated the religious fraud angle, including a 2018 RSC production that featured a fake imam deceiving a Muslim family in the Midlands.
The Marylebone theatre production marks another chapter in the play’s evolution. Raymond’s version maintains clever rhyming couplets while situating the satire within contemporary British multicultural society, though some suggest it carries less political sting than previous interpretations.
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