All posts by Jenna Rocca

Review: The Misanthrope (Tarragon)


by Jenna Rocca

I love this play, I love this production, I love this adaptation, and I love the wigs (they’re all fuscia)!

That’s the basic report of my response to Tarragon Theatre‘s Artistic Director Richard Rose’s production of Molière‘s masterpiece the Misanthrope. Now playing until February 6th.

At first I was skeptical about the update of the text, which moves the world of 1666 Baroque decadence to the contemporary London scene. Gossip rags are scattered about the pink and white hotel suite of a rising young American “It Girl,” with her face on the covers. Her critic-lover Alceste (originally played by Molière himself) is in the midst of a moral reawakening, critical of every aspect of this shallow and hypocritical existence. Continue reading Review: The Misanthrope (Tarragon)