Review: KCST’s fall production of “Tartuffe”

“Tartuffe,” the first of KCST’s fall productions, had a two-day run in Barnard’s Glicker-Milstein Theatre and, as promised, it was “Electric, Eclectic, and Eccentric.”

Photo provided by Cooper Antczak

By Julieta Skallman

November 14, 2025

“You shall be, by Heaven, Tartuffified,” claimed the post advertising “Tartuffe” on KCST’s Instagram — and indeed, the King’s Crown Shakespeare Troupe’s electric new production did just that.

“Tartuffe,” the satirical comedy written by Molière in 1664, was adapted this year by the King’s Crown Shakespeare Troupe (KCST). Formed in 1995, KCST is Columbia University’s only undergraduate Shakespeare troupe that performs free, high-quality shows, usually Shakespeare with the exception of one show in the fall. This fall, that show was “Tartuffe,” directed by Columbia College sophomore Clara Noggle. Noggle’s production aptly worked under the tagline “Electric, Eclectic, Eccentric.”

When the doors opened to Barnard’s Glicker-Milstein Theatre on October 17, Charli XCX’s synth-pop hit “Talk talk featuring troye sivan” filled the air. This electropop hit was the background to the entrance of the family’s servant, Flipote, played by Dexter Noggle (CC ’28) — dressed in bright yellow tights and silver shorts, with pink eyebrows and matching pink dots on his cheeks. Flipote leapt around the stage organizing an explosion of colorful props: a fluffy beanbag, teapots, scattered pillows, and ribbon-decorated tables and chairs.

As the lights dimmed and the audience quieted down, the protagonistic family began to walk down a catwalk fashioned from a rectangular cut-out of white tape. Lights flashed, and kisses were blown out to the audience. Flipote and Dorine — a maid in magenta tights, a black silk slip, and a bonnet vaguely shaped into cat ears — ran about the stage, avoiding the runway, and moved the setting around. Finally, the family came out all at once, walked the runway amidst flashing multicolored lights, and, so, the play began.

“Tartuffe” is set in 1660s Paris and follows the trials and tribulations of a family faced with the worst creature of them all: a too-cocky-for-his-own-good frat boy named Tartuffe, played by Jason Shim (CC ’29), who sported a bright red, bedazzled baseball cap reading TARTUFFE. Shim played the part so well I half-thought they must have plucked him off of Columbia’s Frat Row. His performance leaned into modern absurdity — his Tartuffe was performatively American, in the sense that he embodied a stereotypical frat boy: bothersome swagger, sex jokes, and boastful cockiness. This was a choice that made Molière’s satire feel especially contemporary.

Orgon, played by Melañia Horowitz (CC ’26), the family’s patriarch, and his mother, Madame Pernelle, played by Raja Ahmed Saeed (CC ’27), were wrapped around Tartuffe’s finger because they believed he was a pious, trustworthy man, much to the annoyance of every other character in the play. When Orgon first appeared, taking off a suit coat only to reveal — much to my delight — a matching coat underneath, he asked Dorine time and again, “And Tartuffe?” Dorine, played by Ana Lee (CC ’29), became more and more exasperated as she walked across the stage, answering his questions — always swerving her answers away from Tartuffe, only for Orgon to keep asking, time and again, “And Tartuffe?” Lee’s acting felt very dropped-in to her body — loose and striking. 

Noggle told me that, in the making of this adaptation, they were “looking at the body and how the clothing that we wear changes ourselves.” This is true of Dorine’s noisy heels, the stiffness of Orgon’s suit coats, and the unzipped, flowing graduation gown Tartuffe wore. Each costume was very specifically tied to each character, right down to the tights: every character wore bright stockings, except for Tartuffe. When I asked Noggle if this was purposeful, she confirmed it was: “It felt wrong to give him another color of tights, so we were just like let’s just have him out there.” Beyond the tights, the costume team clearly had fun, mixing religion with Y2K irony, visually matching the play’s false, satirical holiness. This was especially clear in the costume that Luiza Guimaraes (GS ’26)’s character Mariane, Orgon’s daughter, wore: a pink shirt with “GOD’S FAVORITE” embroidered in pearls onto the chest.

Guimaraes played Mariane with a dreamy indecision that balanced Lee’s ferocity. Mariane, with her head-in-the-clouds, was glad that Dorine distracted her father from his plan to marry her off because Mariane was in love with Valère. Valère, played by Sara Rose (BC ’28), was a wealthy young man who melodramatically serenaded Mariane, putting Rose’s comedic bone on display as these songs were cute to Mariane, repulsive to anyone onstage who witnessed them, and a joy for the audience. This unabashed, playful humor culminated in an amusing back-and-forth with Valère threatening to leave the stage, Mariane never protesting, and melancholic music underscoring his slow exit. Dorine eventually intervened, and decided to open Orgon’s eyes by using his wife, played by Dunia Sarkis (BC ’26), to charm Tartuffe.

This plan was sidetracked by Damis, Orgon’s son, played by Adeline Sauberli (CC ’29), insisting on being in the room where it happens — and he was, hidden underneath a bright pink beanbag. Damis interrupted the situation before anything happened and ran to tell his father. But Orgon fell to Tartuffe’s reverse psychology (which included some mewing — are we sure Jason Shim is not straight off Frat Row?) over the truth his own son told him, and Damis was banished from his home. It was moments like these, almost campy and certainly funny, that captured my attention: internet jokes set in 17th-century France.

Towards the end of the play, the family exploded into chaos because Orgon thought he was going to be arrested. Tartuffe arrived to gloat, triggering a “movement sequence” soundtracked by electropop and flashing lights. The house physically fell into chaos. The family tore it apart while Tartuffe walked amongst them. Noggle said that this chaos, along with the catwalk at the beginning, was one of the favorite decisions she made. This use of lighting and sound to create a warp in time is a modern tool — this year alone, I have seen it used in the off-off-Broadway show, “Second Murderer,” and minimally in the since-closed Broadway show, “John Proctor is the Villain.” Multicolored lights flash, and the outside world pauses.

“Tartuffe” is a classic example of the theatrical plot device deus ex machina, meaning everything was quickly set right at the very end of the show. Tartuffe was arrested in the King’s name by a knight wearing heart underwear because of his long criminal history; Orgon was forgiven; and Valère and Mariane were finally blessed to marry. The play ended in another great movement sequence: the set was reorganized. I particularly liked the sound playing over this cleaning scene — this undoing of the chaos, bits of French and English phrases that Noggle found over a light piano and chirping birds. The English bits included a 1950s family commercial with a line sharing the hope that the audience “sees in this family some of your family”; a Maybelline ad that said “for show-stopping lips use Maybelline, good for beautiful, shiny, wet color,” perfectly absurd and absurdly fitting; and the beginning of the movie “La Dolce Vita,” with some helicopter noises in the background. All of these sound bites, in my opinion, added something to the production: they made the audience accept the absurdity of this piece of fiction while also grounding it in the real world. The chaos was undone, and a little bit of the outside world had bled in. Everything changed; everything was set right.

The cast took their bows to “Like a Prayer” by Madonna, apt. When I asked Noggle about any inspiration she had for the feel of the play, she told me that “one thing that [she’d] been telling the cast kind of like ad nauseam [was] the Madonna 1990s VMA performance of ‘Vogue,’ where they’re all in like — it’s gorgeous. They’re all in this super awesome baroque garb and they’re voguing over the place.” The contrast between the modernity of the voguing and the vintage essence of the costumes is akin to this production. Very “Tartuffe.”

About her experience in general, Noggle said, “It’s been so incredibly wonderful to have so many people who understand what I’m talking about and are so willing to make it happen and bring so much of their own selves and their own experience and intelligence and expertise.” From the costumes, the acting, and the overall feel of the play, I could tell this was undoubtedly true. “Tartuffe” was a wonderful experience indeed for the cast, crew, and audience. By the end of those 90 minutes, everyone in the Glicker-Milstein was left just as Tartuffified as promised — dazzled, entertained, and completely under Noggle’s spell.