Aphra Behn's 'Emperor of the Moon' and its French Source 'Arlequin, Empereur dans la lune' (67) (Mhra Critical Texts)

Aphra Behn's spectacular farce, Emperor of the Moon (1687), so engaged audiences that it was restaged well into the eighteenth century. Her play was largely adapted from Anne Mauduit de Fatouville's Arlequin, Empereur dans la lune (1684), a commedia dell'arte production by the Comédie-Italienne troupe, a performance which also proved immensely popular with Parisian audiences. Within its witty and amusing three acts, Behn's play explores a number of contemporary concerns - from commedia dell'arte, to gender and politics, to science and astronomy, including a plurality of worlds, for example - all culminating in the third act's operatic spectacle. This volume offers a transcription of Behn's 1687 play with extensive annotations, a critical discussion of Behn's text, and the first English translation of Fatouville's eight French and Italian scenes Acknowledgements vii Permissions viii The Authors/Editors ix Introduction 1 1. The Early Modern European Tradition of Commedia dell’Arte 1 2. Italian Players in Paris 3 3. Commedia dell’Arte in England 4 4. The Politics of Commedia dell’Arte 7 5. The Comedy of Science 11 6. A Brief Historical Note on the Texts 13 The Emperor of the Moon: A Critical Discussion 19 1. Staging the Spectacle: The Dorset Garden Theatre 21 2. Adapting the French Text 24 3. Critical Analysis 27 4. Gender, Knowledge, and Free Hearts 31 5. Telescopes and this ‘Earthly Globe’ 34 6. Politics and the Art of Commedia 37 The Emperor of the Moon 45 Arlequin, Empereur dans la lune 115 Appendix A: Biography of Aphra Behn 146 Appendix B: Biography of Anne Mauduit de Fatouville 157 Bibliography 160