2018 Show – Scapin’s Deceits and A Week in the Country

Our 2018 show in French is a double-feature of Molière’s Scapin’s Deceits (Les Fourberies de Scapin) and A Week in the Country (Huit jours à la campagne), a one-act play by Jules Renard, a 20th-century playwright whose works we have never tackled before.

Frontispiece from a 1682 edition of “Scapin’s Deceits” by Pierre Brissart
Frontispiece from a 1682 edition of “Scapin’s Deceits” by Pierre Brissart

Scapin’s Deceits is a three-act farce in prose that was first performed on May 24, 1671 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris. It opened to modest acclaim and was performed only 18 more times in Molière’s lifetime. Since then, however, it has gone on to become one of the most frequently performed works in French theatre. Set in Naples, the play centres around Scapin, an arrogant trickster who nevertheless has a knack for diplomacy, thus ensuring everyone is happy at the conclusion of the final scene.

A Week in the Country (1912) by Jules Renard is set in rural France. Georges, a Parisian, arrives at his friend’s country home to spend what he thinks will be a pleasant week. However, the welcome he receives from the womenfolk is not what he expected. Suddenly, a week seems a very long time. Renard was a writer as well as playwright, and was a member of both the Académie Goncourt and the Legion of Honour. This is our premiere of the play.

For more on the plays, see the Wikipedia articles on Scapin’s Deceits; Molière, and Jules Renard. One-page summaries and full texts of both plays in English and French are available below, and you can follow us on social media to be kept abreast of other developments.

Photo of Jules Renard
Photo of Jules Renard

We are giving two performances, on Friday and Saturday, April 20 & 21, 2018, at 8 PM at the George Ignatieff Theatre on the downtown campus of the University of Toronto. Printed copies of the one-page summaries in English of both plays (copies available on-line below) as well as projected surtitles in English will be available at both shows. You can purchase tickets on-line now, with seats selected immediately after purchase by our box office staff; or you will be able to contact our box office by telephone weekdays 11 AM – 5 PM starting April 9, 2018. Tickets, if any remain, will also be available at the door on the nights of the performances with payment by cash only.

Practical Information

Date and Time

Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21, 2018 at 8 PM
English surtitles will be shown and printed one-page summaries (copies available on-line below) in English will be available both days

Location

George Ignatieff Theatre
Trinity College
University of Toronto
15 Devonshire Place
Toronto, ON M5S 1H8
Subway: St. George; Bedford Road exit, then 400 m on foot

Maps
Full texts and summaries
Miscellaneous