This “troupe play, written not for the Court but for the people”, received acclaim when it premiered in 1671 at the Palais-Royal, which was undergoing some construction work. For this play, Molière wished to free himself of the constraints of comédies-ballets and machinery-driven comedies and come back to “pure theatre”, giving great freedom to the director.
The action is set in Naples, opening a door onto an imagined maritime world stretching towards the Orient. In a set suggesting a town port, two sons, two thwarted lovers, turn to the crafty Scapin, driven by a mad desire for revenge, to help them with their authoritarian fathers. The character is a Scaramouche double, as Molière was fascinated by the adventurous Italian actor: “To tell you the truth, there are very few things I cannot do, when I made up my mind” declares the buffoonish servant whose name, as Denis Podalydès points out, derives his from the Italian scappare, “to escape”, “to scamper off”.
Scapin is beaten with a stick, but does some serious beating too. With ransom demands and paternal contradictions all around, he comes up with an avalanche of stratagems and other tricks Molière excels in depicting. After being performed over 50 times on tour and broadcasted in cinemas, this joyous tale of children triumph over fathers is back to the Salle Richelieu.

This show premiered on Sept 20, 2017 at the Salle Richelieu.

IN CINEMAS
SEPT 6 > OCT 17

ON DVD
boutique.comedie-française.fr

ON 24 MAY 1671, Molière premiered his new play, Les Fourberies de Scapin (Scapin the Schemer), which was poorly received by the Parisian public. This highly surprising failure was in fact due to circumstance: the Palais Royal theatre was in the middle of an interminable renovation with a view to staging the sumptuous “highlight” of the season, Psyché, which the court had already had the privilege of discovering and which Paris was impatiently awaiting.

One has to wonder then: was the purpose of the play simply to keep audiences occupied while they waited for the much anticipated tragedy-ballet? In performance terms, however, Scapin clearly had the makings of a great spectacle, with Molière himself playing the title role. La Thorillière as a “furious rapier-wielder”, and Mademoiselle Beauval as Zerbinette contributed just as significantly: indeed the latter was known for her infectious, booming laugh, and the author composed the role with her in mind. But as Boileau commented, the play disappointed lovers of “charming comedies”, no doubt for being too close in spirit to the commedia dell’arte. Conceived with an economy of means for a staging that requires neither imposing sets nor machines, it is very likely that the play appeared too simple to contemporaries and out of step with the new vogue for entertainments featuring singing and dancing.

In short, it was too pure a form of theatre, lacking in embellishments.

As is often the case, future success proved contemporary tastes wrong, since, after the author’s death, the play went on to become a huge hit. Today, it is one of the most frequently staged plays in the French Repertoire, including abroad. On 20 September 2017, on the opening night of Denis Podalydès’ new staging, the Comédiens-Français will have performed it 1,495 times since 1680.

• Visual: Les Fourberies de Scapin by Devéria, [1831] – Photo. Lorette

Direction: Denis Podalydès
Scenography: Éric Ruf
Costumes: Christian Lacroix
Light: Stéphanie Daniel
Sound: Bernard Valléry
Make-up: Véronique Soulier-Nguyen
Artistic and choregraphic collaboration: Leslie Menu
Assistant direction: Alison Hornus
Assistant scenography: Dominique Schmitt

and the Comédie-Française Academy actors.