The character Fradiavolo was inspired by the infamous brigand Michele Pezza (1771-1806), nicknamed Frà Diavolo – one of the Neapolitan rebel leaders against Napoleon’s army. He was made popular particularly by composer Daniel-François-Esprit Auber and playwright Eugène Scribe’s comic opera Fra Diavolo ou l’hôtellerie de Terracine (1830).

The play roughly reworks the comic opera’s plot: it features the English tourists’ jewellery, the innkeeper’s daughter (Zerline, now called Cerline), the thwarted robbery and the arrest of brigands by a soldier (Major Lorenzo, now called Sergeant Robert). However, the prayer was added to the original (in Scribe and Auber’s work, Zerline sings her hope to marry Lorenzo, before going to sleep).

In the cast of La Capture du fameux Fradiavolo, the name of the character and that of the puppet playing it are written side by side. For instance, Robert is played by “Belle Rose” – which is the nickname of the hero in Amédée Achard’s swashbuckler Les Conquêtes de Belle-Rose (1847). Fradiavolo is played by Cyrano, and the innkeeper by Jacques. Other puppets are referred to by a nickname: “King”, for the English Marquis, or “Executioner” for the 2nd Brigand. This type of cast was a distinguishing feature of Louis de Budt’s outlines for his plays.

The vaudeville Les Deux Pigeons was usually performed just after this play.

The English Marquis leaves the strongbox in which he keeps his wife’s jewellery with the Innkeeper. The brigand Fradiavolo witnesses this and tells his men. At nightfall, the robbers break into the inn to steal the strongbox. But as they hear Cerline’s (the innkeeper’s daughter) prayer, they hesitate. At that moment, Robert – Cerline’s fiancé – arrives at the inn with his own men. The robbers decide to postpone the theft. The following night, the drunken robbers sing Cerline’s prayer. Their plan is thus exposed. Robert is warned by Cerline and manages to arrest the robbers, among which was Fradiavolo.