The Marriage of Figaro (Plays for Performance Series)
As you might expect of the work of one of the founders of Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe, Bernard Sahlins' new translation of Beaumarchais' classic eighteenth-century farce is considerably looser and more accessible than other versions currently in print. Chuckling through the printed version of the play, you can see its appeal for an audience more interested in entertainment than in the play's importance as an influence on French theater and, via Mozart's famous musical adaptation, on the history of opera. Yet Sahlins' "speakable" version of the play sacrifices little of its spirit or of the pointed class distinctions of the French court of its time. Nor does Sahlins, in making the original play palatable to a contemporary audience, denature Beaumarchais' two great comic creations--the wily, wise valet Figaro and his equally wily, beautiful wife-to-be Suzanne remain living, breathing characters, as amusing and likable to us today as they were two centuries ago.Jack Helbig--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.