Plays

Amphitryon remains the most frequently performed version of the Greek myth. Central to Amphitryon is the cardinal comic experience of confused identities. Jupiter and Merkur have taken on earthly form because Jupiter desires Alkmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. The deception allows him to return home earlier than the real Amphitryon -- and to make love to his devoted wife. Sosias, Amphitryon's servant, finds himself in the first two scenes of the play confronted and overpowered by another version of himself (Merkur).The confusion and fury mounts throughout the play, until at the very end Jupiter reveals himself in his true shape. He and Merkur return to Olympus -- but not before rewarding Alkmene and Amphitryon with the promise that they will have a son whose name will stand as the symbol of male power and greatness -- Hercules. Kleist borrows the comic energies from his sources -- Plautus and Molière, and time and again there are lines that draw the full humorous potential from the replicated and displaced identities that drive the play forward.