The Marriage of Figaro (Plays for Performance Series) [Paperback]

Pierre Augustin de Beaumarchais (Author), Bernard Sahlins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1994 | Series: Plays for Performance Series

Sensual gaiety is at the heart of this comic masterpiece which continues the merry tale of the little barber of Seville, a clever common man whose wits overcome his superiors who would suppress him. In paring down the number of players, presenting the scenes more economically, and offering a translation that removes archaic phrasing, Mr. Sahlins delivers a script that can be comfortably staged by present-day theatres.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

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.

Review

Sahlins' 'speakable' version of the play sacrifices little of its spirit or of the pointed class distinctions of the French court of its time. (Booklist )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 107 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (November 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566630657
• ISBN-13: 978-1566630658
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #440,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ibsen's Most Operatic Play, January 20, 2009

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Lady from the Sea (mobi) (Kindle Edition)

Too operatic, I think, to be successful on the stage today, in the 'theater of realism' that Ibsen himself did so much to invent! "The Lady from the Sea" demands to be read as a 19th C melodrama, replete with stilted language and conventions of stagecraft that a youthful audience in 2009 will find embarrassing; it's uncomfortably halfway between realism and 'magic realism', that is, between a plausible psychological drama and a ghost story.

Still, there are depths in this odd play, which is not what it seems. It is definitely not a love story with a happy ending. Rather it's about the unbroachable wall between men and women in a society of strict gender roles. It's Ibsen's most radical statement of feminism, very close to Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley's declaration that marriage is merely monogamous prostitution. There are five overlapping amorous attractions in the play, and all of them are painfully out of balance. Happy ending or not, this play is tragic. I seriously think that only music could successfully express the underlying grief that Ibsen is ascribing to all male-female relationships.

It would make a superb opera! I wish I had the talent to write it.