At The Actor's Summit Theatre
March 6 - 23, 2003

Video Clips:
Discovered
Tartuffe Confesses his Sins

Wicked humor abounds in classic comedy...
Moliere's `Tartuffe' Offers Plenty of Laughs”
Kerry Clawson - Akron Beacon Journal

“...You can't help but be ``Tartufficated,'' or snared, by the wicked humor in Moliere's Tartuffe at Actors' Summit in Hudson. In the classic comedy, saucy maid Dorine (Sally Groth) coins that word to describe how the hypocritical impostor Tartuffe has snowed over his patron, Orgon, and is about to sink his teeth into Orgon's daughter.

After 45 minutes of hearing Orgon's family vilify Tartuffe, we're expecting the devil himself. But we get a big laugh when actor Tom Fulton's Tartuffe finally comes burping down the stairs ... Once he realizes he has an audience, the hypocrite starts mouthing off in a false display of piety about his hair, shirt and scourge (whip). ...Fulton's Tartuffe is a man of oily desperation -- He's unctuous in both look and manner,from his haphazard, oily comb-over to his lecherous advances on Elmire, Orgon's wife. Tartuffe wears a huge, oversized cross around his neck and a rosary dangling from his belt. From his servile smile to the humorous arch of his eyebrows, Fulton is beguiling.

Two wooing scenes between Tartuffe and Elmire contain several naughty double-entendres that both Fulton and actress Kristie Lang (Elmire) carry off most humorously. Fulton provides new meaning to the words ``pregnant pause'' when his Tartuffe tells Elmire ``Nothing lifts my... spirits higher'' during a particularly heated moment.This comedy has a couple of charades going on. In the climax, the play's greatest scene, Tartuffe is exposed in more ways than one.

“...Pulls Out All The Stops...”
“..Tom Fulton, asTartuffe, pulls out all the stops ... he prances, he feigns, in the best comedy sense... Director Neil Thackaberry has been given a wonderful translation of the French script by local actor and writer Wayne S. Turney. Turney has lost none of the satire and style as he tightened what is an overly long original theatrical piece. He has also maintained the wonderful rhyme and cadence of the language. As evidenced by the audience’s response, they loved the interpretation.                                             Roy Berko - The Times