Les Fourberies de Scapin

The action is set in Naples opening a door onto an imagined maritime world stretching towards the Orient Faced with two authoritarian fathers two sons both of whom are thwarted lovers turn to the crafty Scapin who is driven by a mad desire for revenge The character is a double of Scaramouche the Italian actor of the adventurous life whom Molière admired to tell you the truth there are few things that are impossible for me when I put my mind to them declares the buffoonish servant whose name as Denis Podalydès points out derives his from the Italian scappare which means to escape to scamper off Scapin is beaten with a stick at one point but also gets his own back and against a background of ransom demands and paternal contradictions he comes up with an avalanche of stratagems and other tricks which Molière excels in depicting