Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard

Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard ("The Game of Love and Chance") is a three-act romantic comedy by Marivaux (Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux, 1688–1763)[1].

The original text

First performed 23 January 1730 by the Comédie Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. Published by Briasson in 1730.

Translations and adaptations

The French play was possibly the source for the 1869 English farcical comedy Checkmate by Andrew Halliday. See Checkmate.

In 1882, Le Truc d' Arthur ("Arthur's trick"), an updated version of Marivaux's play was written by Alfred Duru (1829-1889)[2] and Henri Chivot (1830-1897)[3]. See Le Truc d' Arthur

Translated into English as The Game of Love and Chance[4] or Love in Livery.

The stage text translated into Afrikaans as Die Spel van Liefde en Toeval, by Johann Joubert 1967. Published by DALRO in 1968.

Filmed for French TV in 1954 and again in 1967.

South African performances

1809 Produced in the original French by the local French Amateur Company on 25 March, with Les deux Avares (Fenouillot de Falbaire) as afterpiece.

1967: Produced in Afrikaans as Die Spel van Liefde en Toeval by PACT , directed by Fred Engelen shortly before his death in 1967, with Louis van Niekerk as Mario, Patrick Mynhardt as Pasqual and Marius Weyers as Dorante. The play was presented in a triple bill with Die Burgemeester by Gert Hofmann and Dodedans by August Strindberg.