Blog Response to Monsieur Baptiste: The Con Ma

I rather enjoyed MU Theatre’s production of Monsieur Baptiste. For a low-budget college production, I can easily say that I was well entertained throughout the show. Having previous knowledge of what the play was based off of (Tartuffe) also helped, as it was fun to watch and be able to see how the adaption was different and similar from Moliere’s classic. While some parts of the play could have been better, such as the emphasis of the actor’s accents, other parts of the show like the set and the costume design really blew me away and made me feel like I was watching a professional production.

Starting with the negative, I was rather turned-off by what I thought to be over-the-top, and almost intrusive, accents the each character donned. While I appreciate the efforts to keep the show as realistic and historically accurate as possible, there were many times when I felt that lines were forced to sound the way they were, and I found myself silently laughing at the nature and context of certain lines. For example, there were multiple times when I was completely lost by what Madame Dominique (played by Linda Dodd) said. It wasn’t the speed at which the line was presented, but rather the emphasis of certain syllables and structured diction of her character that had me trying to dissect and analyze what had just gone into my ears. The problem with this is that I was often trying to catch-up with the dialogue after trying to figure out what had just been said. Not to single out a certain actor, because this problem was almost the same with a good majority of the cast. While I can understand and appreciate the speech director Cfrancis Blackchild effort to make the actors sounds as if they were born and raised in 19^th century New Orleans, as a director I would have probably told them to scrap the accents due to their difficult and intrusive nature on the show.

Negative aspects aside, there were things about Baptiste that I really appreciated and enjoyed. The set was one of these things. While it was a fixed set (non moving) I really appreciated the detail and complexity that the stage provided. For instance, even the little things like the pictures on the walls of character’s family members or past ancestors of the characters, or the doors that led to the courtyard in the background of the set were just some of the little things that really made me appreciate how much work and dedication must have gone into the set design. Another thing that I really liked about the set was the “courtyard” in the background of the stage. At the back of the stage, there were three doors that opened into a courtyard looking part of the stage that had various plants and statutes that gave it an outdoorsy feel. What was very cool about this part of the set was the ability to have people walk through this part of the set while still having people act in the front of the stage. A good example of this is when Dominique and her house-keeper are talking about Baptiste in the “house” part of the stage and you then see Baptiste walk through this back “courtyard.” What follows is a chilling affect that leaves the viewer almost stunned and wondering what is going to happen next.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the costumes that the actors wore. While I’m not sure how historically accurate the clothing was, I really believed that if I were teleported into 19^th century New Orleans that is what I would expect people of the higher classes to be wearing. The vibrant colors and lacey frills and puffs of the costumes really made me thing about how much time and money went into the planning and design of the costumes. Another thing I liked about these costumes were that they really grabbed the attention of the viewers. The vibrant colors really helped grab my attention and kept me focused on the actors during the duration of their lines, I rarely felt my eyes wander from the actor who was speaking at the time.

Idea Summary: In Monsieur Baptiste, the idea of stubbornness and unwillingness to believe those close to you are tangled with that of religious hypocrisy and that good eventually triumphs over evil.

Plot Summary: In Monsieur Baptiste, we meet a family who tries to convince a stubborn father that the man who he so desperately praises and looks up to is secretly a con man and is taking advantage of him. In the end, the man is revealed for who he really is, and all is restored to normal.