The real truth:
Yes, I've said it before... and I will say it again:

I love Timothy Mooney.

Now, I hate translations of Molière.  And I sure hate adaptations of Molière.   And I hate abridged versions of Molière...  But I love Mr. Mooney. 

He is probably the only translator I've ever read who cares about Molière the man as well as Molière the playwright, plus the beauty of French language, some of which is inherently lost in translation.  But this man?  He gets it.

So when Roommate-the-Theatre-minor pitched to me the idea of being her stage manager for Tartuffe a few weeks ago, I almost winced.  Almost.  Then immediately did spring into my mind's eye the wonderful recollection of seeing clips of Tim Mooney performing scenes from Molière Than Thou on Youtube.

My heart skipped a beat.  I gasped. 

"CanwedoTimMooney'sversion?" tumbled the words from my mouth.

"Well," she said, "I was going to ask you, Miss French-Major-with-working-knowledge-and-three-semesters'-study-of-Tartuffe, to choose the best English translation."

I squeaked, "Tim Mooney!"

So we ordered the script for his 40 minute, shortened, English version of Tartuffe.   Then I was cast as Elmire.  So the more I read these lines, and not just the excerpts, the more I love his work.

Oh wait, but there is more!  Our Orgon, my (Elmire's) husband, knows Tim Mooney.  KNOWS HIM PERSONALLY!  Possibly the only more exciting thing than knowing him would be knowing... .. . ... ... I.. .uh....  Adam West (yes yes, I am a Batman faaaaan.  We already know this).  And that's about it. 

Wait. I don't actually think Adam West knows French, so never mind.

So I discovered Tim Mooney last year, but because I was working all summer, I couldn't get to go see him at the Fringe!  Saddest summer ever... and next summer I'll probably be working with Little Big Land - and English immersion camp in France - before studying in Paris for the year, so with my luck I'll never meet him.  I know, pity me.

So far I've had no luck convincing anyone at school to host his performance, and I have almost concluded it will be nigh impossible now that they are completely dissolving the school's Theatre program.  « Ô CIEUX, QUELLE ATROCITÉ ! »  I know, right?!

All people need a little Molière in their lives.  Peut-être quand je serai au Mali, à Bamako, je pourrai donner ses pièces aux écoles.  I'm excited for January, but on nous dit qu'il faut ne pas apporter des cadeaux car cela enseignerait aux enfants que les étrangers donnera toujours leur argent ou d'autres choses.  C'est triste, je veux apporter de Silly Putty.  J'en ai donné à Camille, la française qui aide tous les étudiants de français.  Elle aime beaucoup le Silly Putty.  Chaque fois que je la vois, elle me dit qu'elle a découvert un nouveau jeu avec son Silly Putty.  Qu'elle s'amuse beaucoup!

Donc je vais lire Tartuffe par Tim Mooney encore... que je l'adore.  (Qui ou quoi?  Ha ! C'est mon secret !)  Aw man, writing in French again.  I won't bother correcting it, though, so if you see any mistakes, let me know.  I need to practice more, and that's the truth.