James Scotland’s Scots two act comedy,
adapted from Moliere’s ‘Tartuffe’ is given a splendid
treatment by Edinburgh People’s Theatre. The humour is sustained
throughout from the opening scene to the closing scene.
The play is set in Edinburgh in the
1790’s when the protestant King William has replaced James II.
Archibald Ogilvie, a rich merchant, returns after a business trip to
London to find his son has run up huge debts in wooing a succession
of attractive young women, and his simple minded daughter has fallen
in love with an equally simple minded young man.
However, Ogilvie has become something of a
religious zealot coming under the spell of the sanctimonious
minister Isaac Tarland to whom he hands over all his wealth.
However, Tarland, despite his self-righteousness has a passion for
Ogilvie’s wife. Through subterfuge largely orchestrated by the
maid Etta, Tarland eventually gets his comeuppance.
All the players in the cast slip into roles
their effectively and they combine well together when delivering the
punch lines. What is pleasing is the diction is very clear. Strong
performances come from Stuart McEwan who looked and sounded like the
hypocritical minister Isaac Tarland; Mandy Black as the feisty,
quick thinking maid Etta; Iain Fraser as the cantankerous Archibald
Ogilvie and Lyzzie Dell as the crabbit Granny Ogilvie.
This is a production which is playing well
to a Scottish audience who can understand the language and the
particularly sarcastic humour which does suit the Scots tongue.
****
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