Banking on a Flashy New ‘Miser’ : Moliere Meets the Reagan Years in Chambers’ Updated Translation for SCR Production

How do you invigorate “The Miser,” Moliere’s frequently staged farce that wears “old chestnut” like a second name?

One way is with a fresh translation. Take the 17th-Century French dialogue and make it more now, more happening, more zippy. That’s the plan at South Coast Repertory, where previews of “The Miser” continue tonight through Thursday with opening night Jan. 15.

David Chambers, an SCR veteran who directed ‘Twelfth Night” (1991), “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1991) and “Search and Destroy” (1990) among others, has done his own translation that filters the rambunctious comedy through a contemporary prism to “give it immediacy, relevance and a sense of freedom.”

That doesn’t mean “The Miser” will be set in modern times, only that this version will reflect idioms and cadences today’s audience should find familiar. “The original French is written in an archaic and foreign syntax, so I went about taking liberties while trying to be faithful” to Moliere, said Chambers, who also directs SCR’s production.

In keeping with the current idiom, Chambers considered setting the tale about Harpagon, that famous money-clenching geezer, and his familial travails in present-day Los Angeles.

“The appeal of putting it in a ‘David Hockney California’ was pretty strong, mainly because I’m an Easterner who feels something like an anthropologist when out here,” he said. “I live in Manhattan and teach at Yale, and I can get pretty aghast at the culture. Interpreting it seemed very attractive.”

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But Chambers realized such a drastic approach wouldn’t be able to sustain aspects of the play, especially the rigid sexual and religious codes of Moliere’s era. So he found a compromise: 19th-Century Paris, a time and place Chambers feels reflects the contemporary scene but maintains a connection with Moliere.

“It’s a period when the narcissism of capitalism was in full flourish, not unlike recent times,” he said. “To continue the parallel, one might say this is a time when the chickens have come home to roost--the demons of familial and social violence are unleashed and sexual and social repression emerge in full force.”

Chambers said the period reminds him of “America in the Reagan years, when a Republican mind-set completely displaced the country and put a supreme value on the rapid acquisition of wealth at all costs. . . . The setting gives me the opportunity to make points that I want to make. Among other things, I take political swipes at banking and the machinations of government.”

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Somber, thoughtful stuff. Actually, talking with Chambers can give the impression that “The Miser” is a perfectly serious play, not a comedy. When reminded of that, Chambers offers that the best comedies are “always pretty dark, even dangerous in (what they arouse) through the humor.”

But he added that his interpretation won’t be nearly as heavy as it may sound. Anyone expecting Moliere’s customary broad humor shouldn’t be disappointed--the usual pratfalls are in place, along with the playwright’s rising wit.

In fact, Chambers said, he has worried during rehearsals that the physical is being overplayed. “There’s always that danger in the back of my mind, that I’m leaning too far. There’s a euphoria in letting go, and that can affect you. Keeping a balance is the challenge--what I’m really trying for is the good, intelligent (comedy) of Monty Python.”

He’s counting on his translation to help. Chambers explained that a popular interpretation by British novelist Henry Fielding, author of “Tom Jones,” provided much of the inspiration. Fielding’s take on “The Miser” is zesty and political, which set a precedent for Chambers to be “freer and inventive” with his own.

To give a glimmer of Chambers’ approach, here’s part of a well-known passage from the old translation, featuring Harpagon in a characteristically gold-grabbing mood:

It’s a terrible anxiety to have a large sum of money on the premises. It’s much better to have it all well-invested . . . it’s not easy to find a safe hiding place. I won’t trust a strong box. That only attracts thieves.

Now, the SCR transformation:

Oh the horror, the horror! Keeping a large sum of money hidden inside your house--see what it does, see what it does! . . . But where else to put it? A bank? Hah! Suppose those starch-collared crooks overextended their loans, who would bail them out, the government? Fat chance!

Even with a flashy new text, Chambers concedes that “The Miser” is, well, “a real chestnut.” Its popularity, he said, can be attributed to Moliere’s enduring cleverness and, at least in the U.S., to a fascination with family.

“This culture really is family obsessed; you see it in our sitcoms, our movies, just about everywhere,” Chambers explained. “ ‘The Miser,’ even with all the social issues that are there, is, in the end, a family comedy.

“Moliere cuts right to the heart of the matter (that Harpagon and those around him) represent a dysfunctional family. This is pretty funny stuff, but it also has great relevance--it’s based on recognition.”

* South Coast Repertory’s production of Moliere’s “The Miser” begins previews tonight through Thursday at South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. The regular run opens Jan. 15 and continues through Feb. 14. Performances are Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:30 and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $14 to $23 for previews, $14 to $34 for the regular run. (714) 957-4033.