La Double Inconstance

Double Inconstance, La. Comedy in three acts by Marivaux, first performed at the Comédie-Italienne in 1723. The naïve and rustic love of Arlequin and Silvia is troubled when the prince falls in love with Silvia and has the lovers brought to court. Flaminia, playing on Silvia's vanity, brings her to abandon her childhood love in favour of the superior qualities of the prince, who remains incognito until the end of the play. Arlequin is consoled by marriage to Flaminia, but not before he has mocked the vanities of court life and criticized the prince's injustice. A light-hearted comedy with sinister overtones of manipulation.

[Peter France]