Synopses & Reviews
A selection of the most enduring work of one of this century's best-known French playwrights. Jean Anouilh (1910-87) along with Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, was at the forefront of the post-war generation of playwrights in Paris. In England his plays were championed by Peter Brook. Antigone is a response to the German occupation of France and established his popularity in 1944 (the Germans ironically, thought that it was a pro-Nazi in its portrayal of King Creon and thus allowed its production); Poor Bitos, Anouilh's angriest play explores the act of judicial murder and The Lark is a version of the Joan of Arc story. All three plays show his fondness for reworking myth, history and legend. Meanwhile Leocadia, about an opera singer who dies after a three day love affair with a prince and The Waltz of the Toreadors, about a general whose mistress attempts to prove his wife's infidelity, represent another talent - for ironic, modern comedy.
Jean Anouilh, one of the foremost French playwrights of the twentieth century, replaced the realist works of the previous era with his dramas, which exploit fantasy, tragic passion, scenic poetry and cosmic leaps in time and space. He used Greek myth to explore the disturbing moral dilemmas of our times. Antigone, his best-known play, was performed in 1944 in Nazi-controlled Paris. A selection of the most enduring work of one of this century's best-known French playwrights. Jean Anouilh (1910-87) along with Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, was at the forefront of the post-war generation of playwrights in Paris. In England his plays were championed by Peter Brook. Antigone is a response to the German occupation of France and established his popularity in 1944 (the Germans ironically, thought that it was a pro-Nazi in its portrayal of King Creon and thus allowed its production); Poor Bitos, Anouilh's angriest play explores the act of judicial murder and The Lark is a version of the Joan of Arc story. All three plays show his fondness for reworking myth, history and legend. Meanwhile Leocadia, about an opera singer who dies after a three day love affair with a prince and The Waltz of the Toreadors, about a general whose mistress attempts to prove his wife's infidelity, represent another talentfor ironic, modern comedy. "Anouilh is a poet but not a poet of words, he is a poet of words-acted, of scenes-set, of players-performing."Peter Brook, Director
Review
"Anouilh is a poet but not a poet of words, he is a poet of words-acted, of scenes-set, of players-performing." Peter Brook, Director
Synopsis
A selection of the most enduring work by Jean Anouilh (1910-87), one of this century's best-known French playwrights. Antigone, Poor Bitos and The Lark (a version of the Joan of Arc story) show his fondness for reworking myth, history, and legend, while Léocadia and The Waltz of the Toreadors represent another talent—for ironic, modern comedy. The translations are by Barbara Bray, Christopher Fry, Lucienne Hill and Timberlake Wertenbaker.
Synopsis
A selection of the most enduring work of one of this century's best-known French playwrights. Jean Anouilh (1910-87) along with Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, was at the forefront of the post-war generation of playwrights in Paris. In England his plays were championed by Peter Brook. Antigone is a response to the German occupation of France and established his popularity in 1944 (the Germans ironically, thought that it was a pro-Nazi in its portrayal of King Creon and thus allowed its production); Poor Bitos, Anouilh's angriest play explores the act of judicial murder and The Lark is a version of the Joan of Arc story. All three plays show his fondness for reworking myth, history and legend. Meanwhile Leocadia, about an opera singer who dies after a three day love affair with a prince and The Waltz of the Toreadors, about a general whose mistress attempts to prove his wife's infidelity, represent another talent - for ironic, modern comedy.
Table of Contents
Lâeocadia -- Antigone -- The waltz of the toreadors -- The lark -- Poor Bitos.