Moliere's Miser grasps at some eternal truths
Peter Evans has always been drawn to the way classic plays can reveal fresh truths about modern life.
And nowhere is that more the case than with Moliere's The Miser, which opens on Saturday.
First performed in 1668, this satirical look at greed, power and destructive family dynamics retains a sharp contemporary relevance
"A French director once said that he liked revisiting Moliere because it is a form of social history – people don't change, and families don't change," says Evans, Bell Shakespeare's artistic director.
"This play has been in my sights for 12 years and this translation by Justin Fleming is very idiomatic and [reflects] the Australian way of speaking. It has a certain relevance because it could be about Rupert Murdoch or Donald Trump or another kind of patriarch. But it lampoons this figure in a way that has something to say but is fundamentally very warm."
For the past three years, Evans' tenure at Bell has been marked by dark work.
Productions such as 2018's Julius Caesar have tended towards the abstract – sometimes to the consternation of audiences and critics. But The Miser, which centres around Harpagon (John Bell), a wealthy curmudgeon who buries money in the garden and puts his own interests over his children's, is a return to the pleasures of narrative.
"In one sense, the work is kind of like the original sitcom – there's a social group, characters that come in and out and a tight structure that almost works like a Swiss watch," he says. "Everything a character says or does is going to pay off later so it's very satisfying to work on. It's a tricky play but when you get a scene right, the work almost tells you what it needs."
For Evans, it's also an opportunity to see Bell Shakespeare's founder inhabit a meaty, complex character for the first time since he stepped aside from the company in 2015.
"John and I have always had such a good relationship," he says. "It's always [good] when he gets to play a big character, someone funny. It's been great having him back in the room."
Although The Miser, which features set design and costumes by Anna Tregloan, recalls the present day, the production incorporates aesthetic touches that reference the 17th century.
"The production design is almost gauche because it's set in this very ostentatious world," he says. "The Miser is about a particular kind of wealth that sees money as something that's about keeping count, without any kind of philanthropic value and Harpagon is neurotic and paranoid, constantly in fear.
"Today, we see the divide between people who have good fortune, between the haves and the have nots. But we recognise it and it's funny because it strikes a chord."
The Miser shows at Bell Shakespeare from March 2 to April 6.