Molière honored through performance
Quickly pacing around the stage, reciting lines in an emotional tone, Tim Mooney gives off an aura of high energy and comedy as he relives the characters of French playwright Molière. “I have some kind of manic, hilarious, zany activity,” Mooney said. Mooney performed his production “Molière Than Thou” Wednesday in the Visual Arts Gallery Theater. However, it is not the first time Mooney came to Mt. Hood Community College to perform. In Feb.rurary 2005, Mooney also visited the school to perform Molière’s play. Seeing how well the first performance went, Mooney was invited to come back by Eric Tschuy, a modern language instructor. “Mr. Mooney is an experienced, professional actor who knows how to connect with the audience in a personal way. His wit is fast, subtle and yet very accessible,” said Tschuy. “People come perhaps expecting a stuffy performance of an old classic and instead get something living and up-to-date.” About 90 people attended this year’s peformance, which is half of last year’s amount of 180. “That was half as many as last year, which was disappointing, and is causing me to rethink things like timing, venues and advertising,” Tschuy said. “Many of the viewers were repeat audience, because they know how wonderful he is.” Tschuy first saw Mooney’s production at a teacher’s conference in 2003. Tschuy decided Mooney would be a good person to perform on campus and asked him to come. “He was very good, and I saw he had excellent rapport with the audience and was very funny,” Tschuy said. “He did a great presentation with Molière and I was impressed with his translation of Molière, as well.” According to Wikipedia, Molière, also known as Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, was a French theater writer, director and actor that lived during 1600s. He performed all over France, even performing for King Louis XIV in the palace of Versailles. Molière is also known as one of the masters of comic satire. Mooney has been interpreting and translating Molière’s work since 1997. During Wednesday’s performance, Mooney acted scenes from “School for Wives,” “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme,” “Tartuffe” and “Dom Juan” among others. Mooney selected single scenes from all of these plays, and compiled them into one production. During Mooney’s performance, Tschuy said he wanted the audience to experience comedy in a classical style. “He introduces the culture and history into his plays,” Tschuy said. “He explains who the characters are and what they represent to the French and us.” Besides discovering the humor of Molière, Mooney also wanted the audience to experience the plays as well. During his performances, Mooney would begin to interact with some of the audience members. He says his favorite part of the production is when he selects a members of the audience to volunteer and act out a scene with him. “We had a terrific volunteer who was very nervous and the audience identified with her nervousness,” Mooney said. “She was kind of blushing and giggly, and her giggling got the audience to start laughing. It was a lot of fun.” According to Mooney, he might be coming back next year to do another show. Tschuy says he would have to rethink the venues and how to advertise it. They might change the time of the production to take place during the evening, and make it a three-night performance with different acts on each night.
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