About the Play:

The Game of Love and Chance is a full-length comedy by Pierre Marivaux, translated and adapted by Stephen Wadsworth. Young love in its aspects, from the giddy heights of infatuation to the somber depths of gloom and even madness following a lovers' quarrel, is the timeless subject of this sparkling 18th-century comedy of manners in the Italian style of commedia dell'arte, based on the simplest of plot devices, the exchanging places of master and valet, mistress and maidservant.

The Game of Love and Chance is about two upper-class people who have been promised to one another by their fathers. But they haven't met, and know that once they've been introduced, there will be no way to really get to know the other. And by then, it will be too late. Silvia, well born and high spirited, has seen enough unhappy society wives to make her skeptical about her own arranged marriage so she spends the day of her fiancé's first visit disguised as her maid Lisette ,while Lisette, she pretends to be Silvia. The intended husband, Dorante, takes the same precaution, arriving in the guise of his servant. And his servant, who duly comes dressed as Dorante, is the irrepressible and outrageous Harlequin, which means pandemonium ensues. The "servants"are drawn to each other but must overcome the pride and prejudice of their social class while Lisette and Harlequin savour a delicious taste of freedom and respectability. All are deeply perplexed as Pierre Marivaux uncompromisingly turns the screw. Silvia's father and brother, who know all but say nothing, preside over the sentimental education of these comedic desperadoes. The Game of Love and Chance is the best known play by one of the most performed French playwrights.

Originally entitled Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard when it premiered in 1730, The Game of Love and Chance premiered in 1997 at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey under the direction of Stephen Wordsworth. The play has been performed in regional repertory, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 2 women, 5 men

About the Playwright:

Pierre Marivaux (1688-1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French novelist and dramatist. He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing numerous comedies for the Comédie-Française and the Comédie-Italienne of Paris.