1 March 2022 – In celebration of the 400th anniversary of iconic French playwright Molière’s birth, Wild Rice has commissioned a new adaptation of Tartuffe: The Imposter.
Written by critically acclaimed playwright Joel Tan, this bold, thought-provoking update on Molière’s satirical classic will be directed by Wild Rice’s Co-Artistic Director, Glen Goei.
“Joel has written a bitingly funny adaptation of a world classic that Glen and I have been dreaming of staging for many years,” says Founding Artistic Director Ivan Heng, who will be leading the cast.
“In keeping with our mission of reimagining the world’s classics for Singapore audiences today, we have assembled an amazing team of designers and a terrific company of actors. I can’t wait to get back on stage and make magic with them all!”
First produced in 1664, the play introduces audiences to Tartuffe (played by Benjamin Chow), a charming, seductive con artist masquerading as a man of faith. Chaos and calamity ensue when Orgon (Heng), a wealthy, gullible man, falls for Tartuffe’s lies and schemes.
On what inspired him in adapting this play for Singapore audiences, Tan says, “Tartuffe cracks me up, but there’s also something humbling and sobering about a French play reaching out from the 17th century and having so much to say about all of us in modern-day Singapore.”
“Tartuffe’s themes of hypocrisy and moral outrage still resonate today. What happens when you let the religious hypocrites in, to the point that they determine the practices of your household – and, by extension, your neighbourhood, your town, and your entire political system?”
“The more I learned about Tartuffe, the more it felt like a play that could have been written about us, just last week.”
No stranger to directing the classics for the Singapore stage is Goei, who has helmed some of Wild Rice’s greatest hits, including Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Marc Camoletti’s Boeing Boeing, Henrik Ibsen’s Public Enemy and Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein’s La Cage Aux Folles.
“Tartuffe has always been one of my favourite plays, because it walks the knife-edge of being incredibly funny whilst also challenging you to think about the bigger questions of faith, morality and blind devotion,” says Goei. “Over the past few months, we’ve collaborated with our fantastic creative team to dream up the contemporary yet classical world of Tartuffe. I’m looking forward to getting into the rehearsal room with this cast full of Singapore’s most brilliant performers!”
Joining Heng and Chow on stage will be award-winning actress Pam Oei; acclaimed stage and screen stars like Oon Shu An, Jo Tan, Shane Mardjuki and Brendon Fernandez; and talented newcomer Dennis Sofian.
“We are keeping all our fingers crossed that the government will soon reinstate full-capacity seating in venues like ours,” says Heng. “Our audiences deserve to see a thrilling production like this that makes full use of the potential of The Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre!”
The Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre @ Wild Rice opened in August 2019. In its first six months of operations, the company’s new home welcomed a total of 60,000 audience members before it had to close due to COVID-19.
Since theatres reopened in Singapore in November 2020, the venue has played to socially distanced audiences of just a third of its 358-seat capacity. Nonetheless, the company persevered and has since presented no fewer than 20 productions – uplifting audiences while also providing jobs for freelancers in Singapore’s theatre industry.
Tartuffe: The Imposter will play at The Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre from 7 April 2022. Tickets go on sale to Wild Rice Angels from 1 March, and to the general public from noon on 7 March (Monday).
