The Arts Club’s show Father Tartuffe: An Indigenous Misadventure is built around a play called Tartuffe, or the Impostor, originally written by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin—who is better known as Molière. Molière, who lived during the reign of France’s King Louis XIV, is often described as France’s Shakespeare. However, unlike the Bard, Molière preferred comedic plays.

And “comedy” is the operant word here, which is important when considering the setting of Father Tartuffe: Orin and his family live on the Rez just after the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Given the traumatic history of Indigenous people in Canada, was this show going to be more heavy than funny?

That’s not at all where Indigenous playwright Herbie Barnes went with it, though. The play took lighthearted aim at the immoral character of an exploitative Montreal priest named Tartuffe (this entirely in keeping with the original Molière play title). In this version, Tartuffe was invited to live in the home of Orin and his family, who were in the process of trying to find out what it meant to be an Indigenous in 1967 Canada.

Both the play, and its performers, did not disappoint. It accomplished what it set out to accomplish—namely, to make people laugh. And laugh the audience members did, even at jokes filled with all manner of culturally riské innuendo that tastefully never quite crossed the line into taboo land. The play was part situation comedy, part farce, part inside joke among Indigenous people; together, the mix proved cathartic, if not therapeutic.

And as the ancient Greeks knew long ago, this can help audience members—and really, society’s members—both explore and release pent-up guilt and mental tensions around almost any topic. This, in turn, helps us realize that we are all flawed individuals trying to make our way through life the best way we can…even screwing up on occasion, despite our best of intentions. This alchemy succeeds because such is the universal human condition.

In this respect, this play and its performers proved both healing and entertaining. What more can one ask of a play? 

Father Tartuffe: An Indigenous Misadventure is playing at the Granville Island Stage (1585 Johnston Street, Vancouver) until March 24.