The Tartuffe

Following a critically acclaimed sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Belt Up Theatre bring their interactive and immersive re-working of Moliere's classic to the Southwark Playhouse.

Blending clowning, farce, satire, mime and egotistical actors into a bizarre cocktail of meta-theatrical choreographed chaos – Moliere purists should leave all reservations at the door. Those that don't like to be interacted with? Drop your guard because the haphazard troupe will grab you if they need you. By the end, they'll have to shout at you to sit back down.

An indefinite number of years after a career destroying scandal, lost luvvie, Orgon Poquelin presents a theatrical representation of his fall from grace at the hands of the sinister conman – Tartuffe. Assisted by his troupe of faded French variety act vagabonds, Orgon attempts a performance to truly exorcise the demons of his past.

A dizzying spectacle of theatrical pandemonium, The Tartuffe is a production that will leave you exhausted from watching the troupe travelling at a break-neck speed through this madcap bedlam of a performance. Before you know it, you'll be dragged up to understudy a missing troupe member or deliver a forgotten prop. Whether from itching to get onstage or from terror at being picked on, The Tartuffe will leave you on the edge of your seat; this adaptation shatters the fourth wall and happily chucks the broken fragments in the face of convention. A hilarious celebration of the very concept of theatrical performance.

Belt Up Theatre, an emerging company from the north of England have enjoyed a vast amount of success over the past few years including winning the Edinburgh International Festival award 2008. Belt Up's The Tartuffe premiered as part of their ambitious 2008 season in Edinburgh with The Red Room - an acclaimed custom built immersive environment. For the 2009 Edinburgh festival, The Tartuffe was revived as part of their second immersive season in 'The Squat' alongside its sister show, The Trial. Over the past two years, Belt Up have clocked up no less than 14 individual immersive productions ranging from epic clown pieces to multi-time, multi-space performances of Shakespeare.