Word: scapine
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Jacqueline Scapin...
...Dale, 38, does not depend on gymnastics. He is one of the rare per formers whose magnetism rills every cubic inch of the house while his eyes count it. Working from a slapdash adaptation of Moliere's classic farce, Les Fourberies de Scapin, he keeps the evening fresh with the pleasure of his company. For one thing, he is a flirt. He vamps fellow actors even as they trade invectives. But the audience gets his most collusive winks and slanted asides...
Molière's title was Les Fourberies de Scapin (roughly, Scapin's Knaveries), and the playwright borrowed the basic outlines of the story from a famous Roman play, Terence's Phormio. The Young Vic has switched the locale to Naples, and performs the work in the bouncy tradition of British vaudeville...
...Fourberies de Scapin, a pure and wild farce, is one of the company's outstanding productions, which is to say that it is among the greatest productions given anywhere in the world. The set is a masterpiece of brilliance and balance; each costume expresses the character of the actor who wears it, and each is designed with the most subtle awareness of how its colors will complement those of the set; at any given instant the placement of actors on the stage is perfectly arranged; the audience's eyes are always guided to where the action is going...
Robert Hirsch, who plays Scapin, combines violent exuberance and beautiful control reminiscent of the best of the silent film comedians. Mime, pantomine, and contortion are all arts he has mastered: he is a wheezing old man, then a flopping puppet, then a cowering servant, then a victorious plotter. And the roles are all convincing and hilarious...