Amphitryon 38
Amphitryon 38 Author: Jean Giraudoux
First Performance: 1929, Paris
Published: 1929
First English Translation: 1938
Genre: Com. in prologue and 3 acts; French prose
Setting: Amphitryon's palace, Thebes, mythical past
Cast: 5m, 4f
Jupiter plots with his son Mercury how he may seduce Alcmena, who is devoted to her husband Amphitryon. Jupiter arranges for Amphitryon to go to war, and takes on the form of Amphitryon, so that he can gain access to his chaste wife. Although he impregnates Alcmena with Hercules, Jupiter's seduction is far from triumphant, since Alcmena's powerful personality treats him like her own husband, and he finds himself trapped in connubial bliss. Determined to take her as a god, Jupiter plans to return the following night, but Alcmena disdains Mercury's offer of...
[The entire page is 372 words long]
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