Jean-François Regnard

Jean-François Regnard (1655–1709) was a French playwright and poet whose comedies, especially Le Joueur and Le Légataire universel, remain his best-known works.

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Le Joueur: A comedy by Regnard about a compulsive gambler whose obsession damages his relationships and prospects. Its gambler protagonist anchors Regnard’s best-known comic treatment of an obsession.
French comedy: A theatrical tradition in France encompassing comic plays from medieval performance to modern drama. Regnard’s plays belong to this national tradition and helped shape its comedy.
Paris: The capital of France and a major center of its political, cultural, and artistic life. Regnard’s career as a playwright was centered on the Parisian stage.
Thomas Corneille: A French playwright and younger brother of Pierre Corneille, known for tragedies and comedies. He was an established predecessor whose theatrical world shaped the stage Regnard entered.
Le Légataire universel: A comedy by Regnard in which a scheming servant manipulates an old man’s will and household. This late comedy is often regarded as Regnard’s finest work.
Molière: A French actor and playwright whose comedies include Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and The Miser. Regnard inherited a theatrical landscape transformed by Molière’s character-driven comedy.
Comédie-Française: A French national theatre founded in 1680 through the merger of several Parisian companies. Regnard’s plays entered the repertory of the leading Paris theatre.
Jean-Baptiste Lully: An Italian-born French composer who dominated music at the court of Louis XIV. Lully’s court entertainments exemplify the theatrical culture contemporary with Regnard.
Le Distrait: A comedy by Regnard centered on a man whose absent-mindedness disrupts the people around him. Its central flaw exemplifies Regnard’s portraits of comic character defects.
Commedia dell’arte: An Italian form of improvised comedy featuring recurring characters, masks, and physical performance. Its performance conventions and comic types influenced French theatrical comedy in Regnard’s era.