The Minor. The Brigadier

“I don’t want to study, I want to marry”—a catchphrase from the comedy “The Minor.” But in the author’s times, the word “minor” didn’t have any comedic meaning. It meant “not grown up enough” to serve as a young boy. So where’s the comedy? In the play “The Brigadier,” the action unfolds in the home of an adviser, who has been visited by a brigadier to arrange a match for his son. The atmosphere in the house is steeped in intrigue: the bride is in love with someone else, the groom has gotten too close with his future mother-in-law, and the adviser is not indifferent to the brigadier’s wife. “If it’s true… then everyone is in love here, without exception.” Will Fonvizin expose everyone?