The Theatre of Chamfort (Théâtre de Chamfort) – Nicolas Chamfort

The dramatic works of an eighteenth-century French moralist

Plays Written for the French Stage

Nicolas Chamfort is best known for his epigrams and aphorisms, but his literary career also included writing for the theatre. The dramatic works attributed to him are the comedies La Jeune Indienne and Le Marchand de Smyrne, together with the tragedy Mustapha et Zéangir. Seeking to establish himself as a man of letters, Chamfort gave the Théâtre-Français several comedies, and these met with success. Alongside occasional articles and other literary ventures, this stage work helped make his name in the years before the Revolution.

Comedy and Tragedy Together

What distinguishes Chamfort’s theatrical output is its range across two dramatic registers. He wrote comic pieces — La Jeune Indienne and Le Marchand de Smyrne — and also a tragedy, Mustapha et Zéangir. His activity as a playwright thus extended beyond the single vein of light comedy that first brought him notice, and his works are remembered in standard reference lists as a mix of comic and tragic drama.

A Wit of the Salons

Chamfort’s plays belong to the period when he was among the writers most admired in Parisian salons, celebrated for brilliance and wit. It was this same reputation, shaped in part by his theatrical success, that carried his name to the royal family and led to his appointment as secretary to Madame Élisabeth, sister of Louis XVI. His stage writing therefore sits at the centre of the polished, socially connected phase of his career, before the political upheavals that later defined his life.

The Plays Among His Collected Works

The dramatic titles survive as part of Chamfort’s wider body of writing, which was assembled into collected editions by his friend Pierre-Louis Ginguené and by later editors. Within that corpus, the comedies and the tragedy stand alongside the Éloge de Molière, the Éloge de La Fontaine, and the maxims and anecdotes for which he is chiefly remembered — a reminder that the author of the celebrated aphorisms first made his way as a writer for the stage.