Scapin the Schemer

Scapin the Schemer
Front page of Les Fourberies de Scapin
Written byMolière
Characters
  • Scapin
  • Léandre
  • Octave
  • Géronte
  • Argante
  • Hyacinthe
  • Zerbinette
  • Silvestre
  • Carle
  • Nérine
  • Two porters
Date premieredMay 24, 1671 (1671-05-24)
Place premieredThéâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris
Original languageFrench
GenreComedy of intrigue
SettingNaples, Italy

Scapin the Schemer (French: Les Fourberies de Scapin) is a three-act comedy of intrigue by the French playwright Molière.[1] The title character Scapin is similar to the archetypical Scapino character. The play was first staged on 24 May 1671 in the theatre of the Palais-Royal in Paris.[2]

The original play is in French but, like many of Molière's plays, it has been translated into many different languages. Adaptations in English include the 1676 The Cheats of Scapin by Thomas Otway[3] and Scapino by Frank Dunlop and Jim Dale in 1974,[4] which has also been further adapted by Noyce Burleson.[5] Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell also adapted the play, as Scapin, in 1995.[6]

  1. ^ Pavis (1998, 65).
  2. ^ Garreau (1984, 417–418).
  3. ^ Canfield, J. Douglas. Tricksters and Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy. University Press of Kentucky, 2014. p.256
  4. ^ Scapino!
  5. ^ Scapino! adaptation by Noyce
  6. ^ Scapin, adapted by Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell