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Scapin / Don Juan
In one of Moliere's most popular plays, Scapin, that monarch of con men, puts his store of ingenuity to work, getting two lovesick young men married to the girls they pine for and, along the way, taking revenge on their grasping old fathers. Closed down after its first, highly successful run because of opposition from powerful enemies of the playwright, Don Juan was performed in a bowdlerized version for almost two hundred years, until actors, directors and critics restored the original text, recognizing it as the most ambitious and mightiest of Moliere's prose plays. Bermel's translations of the scripts as presented here have received rave reviews.
- GenresPlays
130 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
14 people want to read
About the author
Molière
4,658 books1,520 followersSophisticated comedies of French playwright Molière, pen name of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, include
Tartuffe
(1664),
The Misanthrope
(1666), and
The Bourgeois Gentleman
(1670).
French literary figures, including Molière and Jean de la Fontaine, gathered at Auteuil, a favorite place.
People know and consider Molière, stage of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also an actor of the greatest masters in western literature. People best know l'Ecole des femmes (The School for Wives), l'Avare ou l'École du mensonge (The Miser), and le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid) among dramas of Molière.
From a prosperous family, Molière studied at the Jesuit Clermont college (now lycée Louis-le-Grand) and well suited to begin a life in the theater. While 13 years as an itinerant actor helped to polish his abilities, he also began to combine the more refined elements with ccommedia dell'arte.
Through the patronage of the brother of Louis XIV and a few aristocrats, Molière procured a command performance before the king at the Louvre. Molière performed a classic of [authore:Pierre Corneille] and le Docteur amoureux (The Doctor in Love), a farce of his own; people granted him the use of Salle du Petit-Bourbon, a spacious room, appointed for theater at the Louvre. Later, people granted the use of the Palais-Royal to Molière. In both locations, he found success among the Parisians with les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), l'École des maris</i> (<i>The School for Husbands</i>), and <i>[book:l'École des femmes (The School for Wives). This royal favor brought a pension and the title "Troupe du Roi" (the troupe of the king). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.
Molière received the adulation of the court and Parisians, but from moralists and the Church, his satires attracted criticisms. From the Church, his attack on religious hypocrisy roundly received condemnations, while people banned performance of Don Juan . From the stage, hard work of Molière in so many theatrical capacities began to take its toll on his health and forced him to take a break before 1667.
From pulmonary tuberculosis, Molière suffered. In 1673 during his final production of le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), a coughing fit and a haemorrhage seized him as Argan, the hypochondriac. He finished the performance but collapsed again quickly and died a few hours later. In time in Paris, Molière completely reformed.
French literary figures, including Molière and Jean de la Fontaine, gathered at Auteuil, a favorite place.
People know and consider Molière, stage of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also an actor of the greatest masters in western literature. People best know l'Ecole des femmes (The School for Wives), l'Avare ou l'École du mensonge (The Miser), and le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid) among dramas of Molière.
From a prosperous family, Molière studied at the Jesuit Clermont college (now lycée Louis-le-Grand) and well suited to begin a life in the theater. While 13 years as an itinerant actor helped to polish his abilities, he also began to combine the more refined elements with ccommedia dell'arte.
Through the patronage of the brother of Louis XIV and a few aristocrats, Molière procured a command performance before the king at the Louvre. Molière performed a classic of [authore:Pierre Corneille] and le Docteur amoureux (The Doctor in Love), a farce of his own; people granted him the use of Salle du Petit-Bourbon, a spacious room, appointed for theater at the Louvre. Later, people granted the use of the Palais-Royal to Molière. In both locations, he found success among the Parisians with les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), l'École des maris</i> (<i>The School for Husbands</i>), and <i>[book:l'École des femmes (The School for Wives). This royal favor brought a pension and the title "Troupe du Roi" (the troupe of the king). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.
Molière received the adulation of the court and Parisians, but from moralists and the Church, his satires attracted criticisms. From the Church, his attack on religious hypocrisy roundly received condemnations, while people banned performance of Don Juan . From the stage, hard work of Molière in so many theatrical capacities began to take its toll on his health and forced him to take a break before 1667.
From pulmonary tuberculosis, Molière suffered. In 1673 during his final production of le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), a coughing fit and a haemorrhage seized him as Argan, the hypochondriac. He finished the performance but collapsed again quickly and died a few hours later. In time in Paris, Molière completely reformed.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 24, 2018
My drama troupe and I performed Don Juan, and this translation is perfect. It's a great blend of both modern and antiquated languages. But whoever shall play any of the Dons, Elvira, Sganarelle, or Pierrot, beware: the monologues are ridiculously long, and there are a lot of them (we ended up trimming most of them for the sake of time).
March 17, 2026
When reading Moliere, I don't read it to see what the end of the drama would be like. I just cherish reading the dialogues.
The dialogues in the plays are pure gold!
With a pointed humor and wit, Moliere criticizes, and scrutinizes the ups and downs of the society he lives in. But the human conditions he displays in his satirical dialogues, are timeless and relevant today.
In Don Juan he portrays an atheist, which for seventeen century, it should have been a taboo, to write about.
When Sganarelle, Don Juan's valet, warns him: "...I'm sort of shocked at the life you lead? ..fooling around like this, master, with holy wedlock, and-"
Don Juan replies: "That's between God and me. He and I will sort it out. You don't need to bother about it."
or when the valet argues that :" a person must have faith in something. What do you believe?
Don Juan replies: "I believe Sganarelle, that two and two are four and four and four are eight."
Both plays are great and enjoyable read.
The dialogues in the plays are pure gold!
With a pointed humor and wit, Moliere criticizes, and scrutinizes the ups and downs of the society he lives in. But the human conditions he displays in his satirical dialogues, are timeless and relevant today.
In Don Juan he portrays an atheist, which for seventeen century, it should have been a taboo, to write about.
When Sganarelle, Don Juan's valet, warns him: "...I'm sort of shocked at the life you lead? ..fooling around like this, master, with holy wedlock, and-"
Don Juan replies: "That's between God and me. He and I will sort it out. You don't need to bother about it."
or when the valet argues that :" a person must have faith in something. What do you believe?
Don Juan replies: "I believe Sganarelle, that two and two are four and four and four are eight."
Both plays are great and enjoyable read.
January 17, 2016
I really liked Scapin, though I think the geneologys sort of messed me up. The translation is wonderful - easy to read! And very funny!
I believe I enjoyed Don Juan much better though. It is just so unbelievable that a man could be like that! Yet it is so funny, even with that tragic ending.
I believe I enjoyed Don Juan much better though. It is just so unbelievable that a man could be like that! Yet it is so funny, even with that tragic ending.
March 18, 2015
This I read with Tirso's play and the similarities are there but the females are slightly different and this Don Juan is a lot more agnostic.
I still appreciated it and liked this play. I just wish the ending could be longer for both!
I still appreciated it and liked this play. I just wish the ending could be longer for both!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews