La Méprise is a comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 in one act and in prose

Prose

Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

, written by French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 playwright Pierre de Marivaux

Pierre de Marivaux

Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux , commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French novelist and dramatist....

 and first performed on August 6 1734 by the Comédie-Italienne

Comédie-Italienne

Over time, there have been several buildings and several theatrical companies named the "Théâtre-Italien" or the "Comédie-Italienne" in Paris. Following the times, the theatre has shown both plays and operas...

 at the théâtre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne

Hôtel de Bourgogne

Until the 16th century, the Hôtel de Bourgogne was the name of the Paris residence of the Dukes of Burgundy. Today, the last vestige is the Tour Jean sans Peur, 20 rue Étienne Marcel, in the 2nd arrondissement.-Theatre:...

.

Characters

• Clarice
• Hortense, Clarice's sister
• Ergaste
• Lisette, Clarice's servant
• Arlequin, Hortense's servant
• Frontin, Ergaste's servant.

Plot

Two sisters, both blonde and charming, dress the same. The play is set in a park, where the young ladies are having a walk, hiding their face behind a mask. Ergaste, the lover, thinks he is talking to one sister when in fact it is the other. quid pro quos

Quid pro quo

Quid pro quo most often means a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. English speakers often use the term to mean "a favour for a favour" and the phrases with almost identical meaning include: "give and take", "tit for tat", "this for that", and "you scratch my back,...

follow, until the two sisters disappear together.