The sparkling plays about the scoundrelly valet Figaro, used as the basis of operas by Mozart and Roissini

A highly engaging comedy of intrigue, The Barber of Seville portrays the resourceful Figaro foiling a jealous old man's attempts to keep his beautiful ward from her lover. And The Marriage of Figaro—condemned by Louis XVI for its daring satire of nobility and privilege—depicts a master and servant set in opposition by their desire for the same woman. With characteristic lightness of touch, Beaumarchais—a French courtier, secret agent, libertine, and adventurer—created an audacious farce of disguise and mistaken identity that balances wit, frivolity and seriousness in equal measure.

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