About the work
A Lost Letter (Romanian: O scrisoare pierdută) is a four-act comedy by Ion Luca Caragiale. It premiered at the National Theatre Bucharest on 13 November 1884, in the presence of Queen Elisabeth, and was received with great public success.
Plot
In a Romanian provincial town, shortly before a parliamentary election, a love letter from the district prefect Ştefan Tipătescu to the married Zoe Trahanache becomes the object of a scramble. When the letter falls into the wrong hands, political rivals use it for blackmail, entangling officials, candidates and journalists in a web of bribery and opportunism.
Cultural significance
Caragiale is regarded as Romania’s foremost comic playwright, and A Lost Letter remains one of the most frequently performed works in the Romanian repertoire. Through its farcical mix-ups, the comedy takes aim at the venality of the country’s political class in the late 19th century.