Amphitryon 38 is a play written in 1929 by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux

Jean Giraudoux

Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy...

, the number in the title being Giraudoux's whimsical approximation of how many times the story had been told on-stage previously.

Original productions

Amphitryon 38 was translated into English in 1938 by S. N. Behrman

S. N. Behrman

Samuel Nathaniel Behrman was an American playwright and screenwriter, who also worked for the New York Times.-Early Years:...

 in 1964 by Phyllis La Farge and Peter H. Judd and in 1967 by Roger Gellert.

Amphitryon 38 was first performed on 8 November 1929 in Paris at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....

 in a production by Louis Jouvet

Louis Jouvet

Louis Jouvet was a renowned French actor, director, and theatre director.- Life :Overcoming speech impediments and sometimes paralyzing stage fright as a young man, Jouvet's first important association was with Jacques Copeau's Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, beginning in 1913...

.

An English production of Amphitryon 38 opened at New York's Shubert Theatre

Shubert Theatre (Broadway)

The Shubert Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 225 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York, United States.Designed by architect Henry Beaumont Herts, it was named after Sam S. Shubert, the second oldest of the three brothers of the theatrical producing family...

on 1 November 1937.