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The Game of Love and Chance
The Game of Love and Chance
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Author: Pierre Carlet de Marivaux Translated by: Stephen Wadsworth Publisher: Samuel French Format: Softcover # of Pages: 91 Pub. Date: 1999 ISBN-10: 0573626375 ISBN-13: 9780573626371 Cast Size: 2 women, 5 men
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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. |
Pierre Marivaux, translated by James Magruder
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