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Tartuffe (Remixed) review: Mark Rylance steals the show in hilarious comedy

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Mark Rylance (Pastor Blake)
Mark Rylance (Pastor Blake). Picture: Mark Senior
Johnny Jenkins

By Johnny Jenkins

Iconic comedy Tartuffe has been remixed with a modern twist. Make sure it’s on your list.

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I’m of the view that you should never pass up an opportunity to see a legendary actor at work. I’ve never seen Mark Rylance on stage, so I had to take the chance to see him in his short run at the Marylebone Theatre.

I wasn’t familiar with Tartuffe, but it’s a classic comedy made up of rhyming couplets. The constant rhyming gags make the show feel very pacy. The performance has an intriguing rhythm as you can always feel the next joke coming.

Rylance plays the only white character, a Pastor brought in to officiate a Nigerian-Jamaican wedding. The rest of the cast play the two families being brought together in matrimony.

His character - Pastor Blake - is superbly ridiculous and unpredictable. He sticks out like a sore thumb, always underdressed and dancing off-beat. And he uses a hilarious set of false teeth as a running comic device.

Craig Blake (Delroy) Ivandro Da Cruz Leite (Sinclair) Christopher Mbaki (D-Miz) Sara Mokonen (Adanna) Usifu Jalloh (Oga) Nakeba Buchanan (Elmire)
Craig Blake (Delroy) Ivandro Da Cruz Leite (Sinclair) Christopher Mbaki (D-Miz) Sara Mokonen (Adanna) Usifu Jalloh (Oga) Nakeba Buchanan (Elmire). Picture: Mark Senior

There’s plenty of dancing throughout and energetic music, which follows the themes of a wedding weekend. There’s the pre-wedding meal, the families meeting one another and plenty of pre-match nerves.

I won’t spoil the plot by divulging any more, but it goes in a direction I wasn’t expecting, even if the ending could have been slicker.

It’s a brilliant modern take on an old classic. Don’t miss the opportunity to see Rylance in action.

Tartuffe (Remixed) is at the Marylebone Theatre until October 24.