Play: The Schemes of Scapin

A colorful, offbeat, and thoroughly successful first foray.

Following Racine, Corneille, Feydeau, and Marivaux, Muriel Mayette-Holtz finds in Molière a new playground that sparks her imagination. By transposing the plot into a contemporary setting—an old 2CV abandoned at a gas station as the meeting place for mischief—she brings out all the spice in the intergenerational conflicts, the twists and turns of the heart, and the plot twists! For while the story is brimming with outlandish situations in the style of the Commedia dell’arte, it gives the director and the cast free rein to break away from the conventions of classical theater. To better showcase Molière’s delightful language and understand the complexity of the characters caught in the throes of love: Octave loves Hyacinthe, Léandre loves Zerbinette, but the lovers’ fathers won’t have any of it! Scapin then decides to come to their rescue… Whirlwind, playful, and fast-paced, Muriel Mayette-Holtz’s production captivates the audience, who are won over by her punk-rock take that perfectly captures the spirit of her hero—cunning, yet talented.