Racine's only comedy is a treasure and ought to get a lot more productions. The tragedian wrote it for the renowned Scaramouche, whose commedia dell'arte company was doing a stand in Paris. Originally titled Les plaideurs (which might also be translated as "the pleaders" or "litigants"), it combines a deeply cut adaptation of Aristophanes' The Wasps with a sappy love plot, and it's so short, on paper, that you clearly have lots of scope for commedia bits, improv, chases and so forth.
Steven, who has a real affinity for putting clever scripts together with physical comedy, is running with another French comedy (he directed The Misanthrope a few years ago). Once again his excellent cast includes cross-dressers . . . to say nothing of the dog.
STAGE MAG
