
“What the devil was he doing in that galley?”
Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?
Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671), Act II, sc. vi
Scapin the Schemer is a three-act comedy of intrigue by the French playwright Molière. The title character Scapin is similar to the archetypical Scapino character. The play was first staged on 24 May 1671 in the theatre of the Palais-Royal in Paris.The original play is in French but, like many of Molière's plays, it has been translated into many different languages. Adaptations in English include Scapino! by Frank Dunlop and Jim Dale in 1971, which has also been further adapted by Noyce Burleson. Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell also adapted the play, as Scapin, in 1995. Despite a few alterations and modernization of language, the play still retains much of its original structure.
“What the devil was he doing in that galley?”
Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?
Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671), Act II, sc. vi