Scapin's pranks

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Frontispiece of the first edition from 1671

Scapins pranks ( French Les Fourberies de Scapin ) is a comedy in three acts by the French poet Molière . The premiere took place on May 24, 1671 in the Palais Royal in Paris . The piece is partly based on Phormio by the Latin comedy poet Terenz and also draws numerous suggestions from the Italian Commedia dell'arte . The protagonist Scapin (Italian Scappino ) is a comical servant figure , a variant of Brighella or Mezzetino .

action

The play takes place in Naples .

Scapin, a shrewd servant, fools with the help of his colleague Géronte and Argante. The two greedy old merchants left their unmarried sons in the care of their servants during their business trips. The sons form bonds of love while their fathers are away. Octave, son of Argante, marries Hyacinte, a poor girl of unknown origin. Léandre, son of Géronte, falls in love with Zerbinette, who grew up among the traveling people. Scapin wants to make sure that Argante agrees to the marriage and that Géronte provides the sum that is needed to buy Zerbinette from the gypsies who kidnapped her as a child.

With the help of fictional stories , Scapin blackmailed the two old men for the money they needed. He also wants to take revenge on Géronte, who betrayed him to Léandre. So he lets him believe that Spadassins ( contract killers ) are on his track to force the ruined marriage. Scapin hides his victim in a sack and beats them up to the best of his ability, but his intent to deceive comes to light. Geronte wants than as daughters of Geronte and Argante in an unexpected addition Hyacinte and Zerbinette revenge on him already recognized are.

In the final scene, Scapin pretends to be close to death as a victim of an accident and lets the two old men pardon him.

Impact history

When it was first performed, the piece achieved only moderate success and has received various criticisms. The cleric Fénelon criticized the exaggerated representation of the characters. Nicolas Boileau , representative of classicism , accused the author in his didactic poem Art poétique of having placed Tabarin , a character from the Parisian fairground theater , next to the Roman classic Terence , and pretended to be his victim in the scene in which Scapin Geronte's in a bag, the author of the Misanthrope unrecognizable.

After Molière's death, however, the comedy was resumed by his cast and performed about 200 times until the death of King Louis XIV . Scapin's pranks have been one of the most frequently performed pieces in French theater ever since.

Alain Badiou described a performance of the play by the Compagnie de théâtre Grenier de Toulouse as the decisive theatrical performance that truly moved him at the age of 14 and made him discover his love for the theater.

Web links

Wikisource: Les Fourberies de Scapin  - Sources and full texts (French)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lettre International 2014 (H. 106), p. 24.