Fontainbleau; A Comic Opera. in Three Acts

This late 18th-century comic opera bursts into a border tavern teeming with English tourists, French locals, and anyone foolish enough to believe their own lies. At its center stands Lackland, a gentleman of excellent pedigree and zero pounds, who maintains his dignity through sheer audacity while creditors circle. When his old friend Henry arrives in Fontainebleau pursuing a wealthy romantic interest, the pair stumble through a minefield of mistaken identities, social-climbing colonels, and Mrs. Casey's perpetually overflowing tavern. O'Keeffe crafts a farce where everyone has something to hide: debts to pay, fortunes to pursue, love to secure. The humor operates on two levels, broad physical comedy and pointed satire of Georgian society's obsession with wealth and status. Three centuries later, the piece still lands because its targets remain eternal: the charmer one step from ruin, the social climber exposed, the lovers separated and reunited by circumstances of their own making. It's a time capsule of British tourists abroad and a genuinely witty piece of theatre that knows exactly what it is.