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Harcourt Brace, 1995

978-0156002110

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Translated into verse

Translation

9

3

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Original Playwright - Moliere

Jupiter, King of the Gods, has again become enamoured with a mortal woman, Alcmena, wife of the military general, Amphitryon. During the general's absence in the field, Jupiter assumes Amphitryon's form, and is gladly welcomed home and into Àlcmena's bed. The god Mercury aids in the deception by assuming the role of Amphitryon's valet, Sosia. The next morning, the real Sosia arrives to tell Alcmena that her husband will soon return home, but he is thwarted by his own double (Mercury), who, protecting Jupiter inside the house, berates and confuses Sosia, beating him up as he forces Sosia to flee. Alcmena and Jupiter (as Amphitryon) take leave of one another amid eloquent and passionate speeches befitting young newlyweds. Cleanthis, Alcmena's maid and Sosia's wife, is envious of such romantic fervour, and reproaches Mercury (whom she believes to be her husband) for his want of tenderness toward her. Mercury's mischievous replies contribute to the unhappiness of Cleanthis' and Sosia's quarrelsome marriage which,

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

78-0-8222-0048-2

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Translated into verse

Translation

4

4

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Original Playwright - Jean Racine

Drawn from the immortal Greek drama by Euripides, Racine's play focuses on the unhappy fate of Andromache and the murderous passions that churn around her. Beloved by her captor, Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, Andromache remains true to the memory of her slain husband, Hector. When the Greeks demand that she give her son over to them Pyrrhus offers Andromache a cynical choice: Marry him, or her son will be killed. In desperation, Andromache decides to wed Pyrrhus and then take her own lifewhich sets in motion a series of shocking events. The jealous Hermione, who is betrothed to Pyrrhus, persuades Orestes (who is enamored of her) to kill him, after which she commits suicide and the hapless Orestes loses his reason. Thus, in the end, all are betrayed by their frenzied emotions and drawn inexorably to a tragic fate which they, in their mortalfallibility, are powerless to avert.

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-1747-3

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Translated into verse

Translation

7

2

flexible

Original Playwright - Moliere

Molière's THE BUNGLER (1655) takes place in the Sicilian city of Messina and is a fresh, zestful verse treatment of the familiar elements of Italian popular comedy. A beautiful young woman named Célie has been traveling with a gypsy band and, shortly before the play begins, has been left by the gypsies with a rich old man named Trufaldin as security for a loan. Two young men of Messina, Lélie and Léandre, have lately been rivals for the hand of a girl named Hippolyte, but when Célie appears on the scene they are both smitten by her, and she becomes the new object of their rivalry. The warm, impetuous Lélie turns to his valet, a cunning trickster named Mascarille, for help in out-witting Léandre and in freeing the pawned Célie from what amounts to captivity. Mascarille, who loves to plot and deceive, contrives ruse after ruse in his master's interest, but is repeatedly frustrated by the blunders of Léliewho, even when he is an informed participant in his valet's schemes, manages unintentionally to spoil them. This joke is repeated for nearly five acts, and does not grow tiresome: One delights in the resilience of Mascarille, the wondrous variety of his intrigues, and the astonishing ability of Lélie to botch them. As the result of certain discoveries, the play is able at its close to unite Lélie with his Célie, who turns out to be of gentle birth. Léandre is reunited with Hippolyte, to the satisfaction of her father, Anselme, and indeed the dénouement pleases everyone, including Trufaldin, Pandolfe (Lélie's father), and Andrès, a former suitor of Célie's who is now revealed to be her long-lost brother. It is, as Mascarille observes, "like the ending of a comedy."

Martin Beck Theatre, NY

1956

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Random House (1957)

B001F3IG6G

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Musical

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Music by Leonard Bernstein; Book by Lillian Hellman; Lyrics by Richard Wilbur, John La Touche and Dorothy Parker; Based on the novel "Candide" by Voltaire

Setting: Westphalia. Lisbon. Paris. Buenos Aires. Venice

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-1657-5

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Translation

12

4

flexible

Original Playwright - Moliere

Long ago in Sicily, the legend of Don Juan began. In this, Moliére's version of the tale, we meet Don Juan again. He is a man who appreciates beauty wherever and whenever he sees itand beauty is almost always a pretty woman, who he appreciates by winning her love. Don Juan is on a constant quest to conquer women and to enjoy the passion they provoke. He is accompanied, somewhat reluctantly, by his manservant Sganarelle, who backs him up to the public, but behind his back tries to warn unsuspecting maidens. Sganarelle and Don Juan constantly debate the presence of Heaven, Hell and GodDon Juan believing none of these things exist, Sganarelle knowing otherwise. In the course of his attempted seductions, Don Juan is chased and challenged by those he has wronged in the pastor by their very angry brothers whose job it is to uphold family honor. In the end, Sganarelle wins the debate when Don Juan, heeding no warnings as to his behavior and how it affects his after life, is swallowed up by the Earth and sent to Hell. He's got his due, leaving behind a world of broken-hearted women and unpaid wages to Sganarelle.

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-1331-4

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Translation

6

3

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Original Playwright - Moliere

Gorgibus wants his daughter, Celie, to marry a rich man, Valere, instead of Lelie, whom she loves. Celie, lamenting this turn of events while her beloved is away, faints. Her maid catches her and calls out for help. Sganarelle, who happens to be passing, runs over to hold Celie while her maid runs for aid. Sganarelle's wife, however, sees him holding Celie and suspects the worst. She finds a portrait of Lelie, dropped by Celie when she fainted, and admires his good looks. Sganarelle returns and sees his wife gazing at the portrait, and he too suspects an affair. They argue and run off just as Lelie arrives home, after hearing rumors of Celie's wedding plans. Sganarelle enters again, holding the portrait, and Lelie is shocked. He asks Sganarelle how he came to have the portrait, and Sganarelle replies that he took it from his wife. Sganarelle's wife comes back and finds Lelie now ready to faint, so she invites him into their home to rest. Sganarelle, of course, then sees Lelie with his wife, and his suspicions are confirmed. But Celie also sees Lelie leaving the house, and approaches Sganarelle, who tells her that Lelie has cuckolded him with his wife. Celie is stunned and decides that she will then marry the rich man. The two, now estranged lovers, then meet and are trading recriminations, when Sganarelle returns in full armor and carrying a sword, ready to kill Lelie, but lacking the courage. Sganarelle's wife then enters and upbraids Celie for stealing her husband away. None of the offended lovers are specific in their accusations, and confusion reigns until Celie's down to earth maid resolves everything by asking some direct questions and setting everyone straight. Things still look bleak for the young lovers, however, as Gorgibus still insists that Celie marry the rich man, but just then Valere's father arrives to announce that he has discovered that his son married secretly four months ago, freeing Celie and Lelie to marry after all.

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-0648-4

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Translated into verse

Translation

8

5

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Original Playwright - Moliere

Clitandre seeks the hand of Henriette, a match heartily approved of by her father, Chrysale. However, his wife, Philaminte, has other plans for her younger daughternamely marriage to Trissotin, a foppish wit who panders to Philaminte's intellectual pretensions. Further complications are introduced by Armande, Henriette's older sister, who once rejected Clitandre but now resents his attentions to Henriette; by Belise, Chrysale's sister, who believes (erroneously) that all men are wildly in love with her; and by Vadius, a scholar jealous of Trissotin's hold on Philaminte. Needless to say the course of true love does not run smoothly, as the pseudo-intellectual posturings of Philaminte and her coterie clash with the struggle between Chrysale and Philaminte over who shall ordain the disposition of their daughter's hand. But happily, and thanks to the maneuvering of Chrysale's brother, Ariste, all is set right in the end, with hypocrisy exposed and true love made triumphant.

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Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2007

978-0-8222-2159-3

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translated into verse

Translation

8

4

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Original Playwright - Moliere

Lovers' Quarrels (1656) was Molière's second full-length play in verse, and it is a complex comedy animated by deception and misunderstanding . . . A young woman (Ascagne) has worn masculine disguise since childhood, for the sake of an inheritance that would otherwise go to the household of young Valère. Ascagne loves Valère, who is a suitor of her sister Lucile, and cleverly manages to marry him in a midnight ceremony, Valère believing that his veiled and unseen bride is Lucile. Valère's manservant Mascarille is similarly deceived and, under pressure, conveys his misinformation to Éraste, a young man who jealously loves Lucile and is loved in turn by her. The ensuing quarrel between Éraste and Lucile lasts until the fourth act, and is paralleled by the quarreling and reconciliation of Gros-René (Éraste's valet) and Marinette (Lucile's maid)

The Theatre of the Riverside Church, NY

2005

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-1389-5

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translated into verse

Translation

8

3

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Original Playwright - Moliere

Outraged and disheartened by the vain flattery and calculated duplicity of his fellow men, Alceste declares that henceforth he will speak only the truthno matter what offense this might give. His philosophic friend Philinte counsels him to temper his rashness, but Alceste claims that he can no longer tolerate the conventions of saying one thing to a person's face and another behind his back. Ironically, Alceste is enamored of the young widow Celimene, whose malicious tongue and unceasing coquetry make her the embodiment of the very situation he professes to detest. Ultimately Alceste's directness involves him in a lawsuit, and then a showdown with Celimene. But in the end it is Alceste who rejects the match when confidential letters are disclosed in which Celimene has set down scathing remarks about all her would-be lovers, Alceste included. Self-righteously he declares that he will renounce the world and seek a place where honesty can still flourish. As the curtain falls, however, the unruffled Philinte steps forward once more, taking Alceste in hand and urging him to accept things as they are and for what they are, pointing to the cynical moral that it is the wiser course to accept for the best what cannot be changed for the better.

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-0890-7

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translated into verse

Translation

3

5

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Original Playwright - Jean Racine

Based on a legend first dealt with by Euripides (in Greek) and Seneca (in Latin) the action of the play centers on the tragic fate of Phaedra, wife of Theseus, the King of Athens, who falls passionately in love with her stepson, Hippolytus. At first Phaedra attempts to deny her attraction for the handsome young Hippolytus, but when word arrives that Theseus has been slain, Phaedra declares her love, much to the shock and dismay of Hippolytus, who is deeply enamored of another. When Theseus then returns unharmed, Phaedra realizes the extent of her grievous error, and she makes no attempt to stop her loyal servant, Oenone, from falsely denouncing Hippolytus as a would-be seducer. Furious, Theseus sends his son into exilethereby setting in motion the inexorable series of events in which the lives of the characters spin wildly out of control and become subject to the will of the godswho exact their tragic and inevitable retribution.

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-0998-0

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translated into verse

Translation

6

3

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Original Playwright - Moliere

Two brothers, Sganarelle and Ariste, have been named guardians of a deceased friend's two daughters, to raise and even marry if they see fit. Ariste has raised Leonor with great freedom, allowing her to go to parties, indulging her whims and leaving her free to marry whomever she chooses. But Sganarelle has raised Isabelle quite differently, keeping her a virtual prisoner and intending to marry her, no matter what she desires. Ariste has tried to convince his younger brother that this will only inspire Isabelle to seek escape from him. Sganarelle believes that if she was given the same freedom as her sister she would immediately cuckold him. Meanwhile Sganarelle's young neighbor, Valere, has fallen in love with Isabelle from a distance, and she with him. Isabelle tricks her guardian into delivering secret messages to Valere by playing on Sganarelle's fears of suitors for her affections, and Sganarelle unwittingly delivers message after message, thinking Isabelle is spurning Valere's love. In the end Isabelle disguises herself as Leonor, goes to Valere's house while Sganarelle happily fetches a magistrate to marry them. Believing his views of Ariste's rearing of Leonor has been proven correct, Sganarelle drags his brother out of his house to view the wedding. When Sganarelle discovers that he has been the victim of this deception however, he is shocked and swears off women forever.

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-0999-7

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
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translated into verse

Translation

7

2

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Original Playwright - Moliere

Fearing cuckoldry above all else, Arnolphe has painstakingly trained the guileless Agnes from childhood to become his obedient and faithful wife. Although he has carefully shielded her from the outside world, romance finds her in the form of the dashing Horace, son of one of Arnolphe's best friends. Unaware of who his rival is, the trusting Horace enlists Arnolphe's aid in wooing Agnesthat leads to a series of hilarious and inventive twists and turns of plot, until the inevitable conclusion is reached: The wily Arnolphe is duped into outwitting himself, and young love, as it will, carries the day.

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Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-1804-3

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Translation

6

2

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Original Playwright - Jean Racine

One of the most hilarious French plays ever written, Racine's only comedy (1688) tells of a judge named Nigaud who has lost his mind from overwork and yet is possessed with the desire to go to court and try cases day and night. His son, Léandre, abetted by Petit-Jean (the judge's porter) and Leclerc (the judge's clerk), does his best to confine him to his house and to deny access to litigious personssuch as Chicanneau and the Countess of Pimbeschewho wish to consult him regarding their current lawsuits. The mad judge, however, threatens constantly to escape, and the situation is resolved only when Léandre persuades his father to stay at home and be the presiding judge of his own householdbeginning with an uproarious trial of the family dog for filching a capon from the kitchen. That plot, which Racine adapted from Aristophanes' The Wasps, is interlaced with a love-intrigue out of the commedia dell'arte. Léandre loves his neighbor, Isabelle, who is imprisoned in the house of a father (Chicanneau) who reserves all his money for legal squabbles and will not give her a dowry. A good part of Act Two consists of an intricate hoax in which Léandre and Leclerc, disguised as a magistrate and bailiff, get the better of Chicanneau and make possible the happy ending of Act Three. At the close of the play, Judge Nigaud is looking forward to many more intramural trials, and Léandre is betrothed to the spirited and charming Isabelle.

Church Street Theater, Washington, DC

2009

Journeymen Theater

Dramatists Play Service, NY,

978-0-8222-1111-2

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translated into verse

Translation

7

5

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Original Playwright - Moliere

Beneath a pious facade, Tartuffe is a schemer intent on securing Orgons fortune and his daughters hand in marriage. Will Tartuffe be rewarded with riches or will the slippery hypocrite get the comeuppance he richly deserves?