Tartuffe presented by BoHo Theatre at Theater Wit

Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended

"...despite the many pleasures of Ranjit Bolt's muscular verse translation (which features a judicious sprinkling of contemporary profanity) and a fine performance by Jeremy Trager in the title role, Robel's production doesn't fully add up. It's not visually dark enough to be a real dystopia (unlike the now-defunct Greasy Joan and Co.'s staging of Moliere's "The Misanthrope" of a few seasons ago), nor is it cartoonish enough to bring out the more absurd elements in a play whose very 17th-century resolution depends upon the actions of a never-seen monarch."

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...in this uneven BoHo Theatre production, Peter Robel does away with Tartuffe's affability—and we're left with Jeremy Trager as a pernicious creep. Where's the fun in that? Neither Saren Nofs-Snyder's effervescent turn as a fiery servant nor Robel's promising but halfhearted steampunk aesthetic are enough to overcome this Tartuffe's crisis of identity. The show is unfulfilling either as comedy or commentary."

Centerstage - Recommended

"...The script is hilarious, and the strong ensemble cast bats Moliere’s rhymed couplets (translated by Ranjit Bolt, and still rhyming) back and forth with verve. But the show’s greatest strength lies in its stylized-yet-nuanced depiction of relationships within the household. Orgon may be a fool, but Thomas’s portrayal of his innocent enthusiasm for his new friend and deep fondness for his wife and children makes him three-dimensional and warm. His silly and touching interactions with his daughter, played by Devan O’Mailia, are particularly endearing. Similarly, Tartuffe may be a thoroughly rotten knave, but Trager’s bad houseguest is so intelligent that his virtuosic villainy comes to seem almost admirable."

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"...Molière’s tale—which chronicles the posing-as-pious Tartuffe’s attempts to swindle and make a cuckold of the gentlemanly Orgon—is full of enticing wordplay and an amusing, ever-advancing plot. The production features warm, almost romantic lighting by Nick Belley and lush period-with-a-twist costumes by Kate Setzer Kamphausen. Molière’s deus ex machina ending feels rushed and silly even by the standards of a farce, but it puts a tidy-enough bow on the proceedings to satisfy."

Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended

"... While the language takes a few minutes to adapt to, it only takes a few minutes for the stylized wording to sound familiar, and get lost in the storyline. Act I brings the conflict to a breaking point, and Act II handily delivers the resolution. This slightly madcap, modernized version of Tartuffe is engaging and fast paced, and so well translated that by the end of the piece I was expecting everything I heard to naturally and effortlessly end in rhyming couplets."