L'Idiote (The Idiot) is a comic mystery play by Marcel Achard (b. 5 July 1899, in Sainte-Foy-l?s-Lyon, Rh?ne; d. 4 September 1974, Paris). It is best known in the United States as A Shot in the Dark and was adapted into a film under that title. The English adaptation by Harry Kurnitz had a 1961-1962 Broadway run, directed by Harold Clurman. Its cast included Julie Harris, Walter Matthau, and William Shatner. When adapted to film in 1964 (A Shot in the Dark directed by Blake Edwards), it was heavily reworked in order to make the bumbling police inspector be the character of Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers), who had earlier appeared in the film The Pink Panther.

There is no information about the play available on Wikipedia at this time, but here is a link to the film entry.