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Wikipedia

Jean Anouilh

Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (French: [ʒɑ̃ anuj];[1] 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's Vichy government. His plays are less experimental than those of his contemporaries, having clearly organized plot and eloquent dialogue.[2] One of France's most prolific writers after World War II, much of Anouilh's work deals with themes of maintaining integrity in a world of moral compromise.[3]

Jean Anouilh
Anouilh c. 1953
BornJean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh
(1910-06-23)23 June 1910
Bordeaux, France
Died3 October 1987(1987-10-03) (aged 77)
Lausanne, Switzerland
OccupationDramatist and screenwriter
Literary movementModernism
Notable worksThe Lark
Becket
Traveler without Luggage
Antigone
Notable awardsPrix mondial Cino Del Duca
Spouse
  • Monelle Valentin (m. 1931)
  • Nicole Lançon (m. 1953)
Signature

Life and career

Early life

Anouilh was born in Cérisole, a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux, France and had Basque ancestry. His father, François Anouilh, was a tailor, and Anouilh maintained that he inherited from him a pride in conscientious craftmanship. He may owe his artistic bent to his mother, Marie-Magdeleine, a violinist who supplemented the family's meager income by playing summer seasons in the casino orchestra in the nearby seaside resort of Arcachon. Marie-Magdeleine worked the night shifts in the music-hall orchestras and sometimes accompanied stage presentations, affording Anouilh ample opportunity to absorb the dramatic performances from backstage. He often attended rehearsals and solicited the resident authors to let him read scripts until bedtime. He first tried his hand at playwriting here, at the age of 12, though his earliest works do not survive.[4]

 
The Lycée Chaptal, at the corner of rue de Rome and the boulevard des Batignolles

In 1918 the family moved to Paris where the young Anouilh received his secondary education at the Lycée Chaptal. Jean-Louis Barrault, later a major French director, was a pupil there at the same time and recalls Anouilh as an intense, rather dandified figure who hardly noticed a boy some two years younger than himself. He earned acceptance into the law school at the Sorbonne but, unable to support himself financially, he left after just 18 months to seek work as a copywriter at the advertising agency Publicité Damour. He liked the work, and spoke more than once with wry approval of the lessons in the classical virtues of brevity and precision of language he learned while drafting advertising copy.[5]

 
The grave of Anouilh, his eldest daughter Catherine (1934-1989) and his last partner Ursula Wetzel (1938-2010) at the cemetery of Pully near Lausanne.

Anouilh's financial troubles continued after he was called up to military service in 1929. Supported by only his meager conscription salary, Anouilh married the actress Monelle Valentin in 1931. Though Valentin starred in many of his plays, Anouilh's daughter Caroline (from his second marriage), claims that the marriage was not a happy one. Anouilh's youngest daughter Colombe even claims that there was never an official marriage between Anouilh and Valentin. She allegedly had multiple extramarital affairs, which caused Anouilh much pain and suffering. The infidelity weighed heavily on the dramatist as a result of the uncertainty about his own parentage. According to Caroline, Anouilh had learned that his mother had had a lover at the theatre in Arcachon who was actually his biological father. In spite of this, Anouilh and Valentin had a daughter, Catherine, in 1934 who followed the pair into theatre work at an early age. Anouilh's growing family placed further strain on his already limited finances. Determined to break into writing full-time, he began to write comic scenes for the cinema to supplement their income.[6]

Theatre work

At the age of 25, Anouilh found work as a secretary to the French actor and director Louis Jouvet at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées. Though Anouilh's boss had happily lent him some of the set furniture left over from the production of Jean Giraudoux's play Siegfried to furnish his modest home, the director was not interested in encouraging his assistant's attempts at playwriting.[7] Jouvet had risen to fame in the early 1930s through his collaborations with the playwright Giraudoux, and together the two worked to shift focus from the authorial voice of the director (which had dominated the French stage since the early twentieth century) back to the playwright and his text.

Giraudoux was an inspiration to Anouilh and, with the encouragement of the acclaimed playwright, he began writing again in 1929. Before the end of the year he made his theatrical debut with Humulus le muet, a collaborative project with Jean Aurenche. It was followed by his first solo projects, L'Hermine (The Ermine) in 1932 and Mandarine in 1933, both produced by Aurélien Lugné-Poe, an innovative actor and stage manager who was then head of the Théâtre de l'Œuvre.[8] Ruled by the philosophy, "the word creates the decor," Lugné-Poe let Anouilh's lyrical prose shine in front of a backdrop of simple compositions of line and color that created a unity of style and mood.[9]

The plays were not great successes, closing after 37 and 13 performances respectively, but Anouilh persevered, following it up with a string of productions, most notably Y'avait un prisonnier (1935). These works, most in collaboration with the experimental Russian director Georges Pitoëff, were considered promising despite their lack of commercial profits, and the duo continued to work together until they had their first major success in 1937 with Le voyageur sans bagage (Traveller Without Luggage). In subsequent years, there was rarely a season in Paris that did not prominently feature a new Anouilh play and many of these were also being exported to England and America.[10] After 1938, however, much of Anouilh's later work was directed by the prominent Paris scenic designer André Barsacq, who had taken over as director of the Théâtre de l'Atelier after Charles Dullin's retirement in 1940. Barsacq was a champion for Anouilh and their affiliation was a major factor in the playwright's continued success after the war.[11]

Playwright

In the 1940s, Anouilh turned from contemporary tales to more mythical, classic, and historic subjects. With protagonists who asserted their independence from the fated past, themes during this period are more closely related to the existential concerns of such writers as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. The most famous play of this group is Antigone, which "established Anouilh as a leading dramatist, not only because of the power with which he drew the classic confrontation between the uncompromising Antigone and the politically expedient Creon, but also because French theatre-goers under the occupation read the play as a contemporary political parable."[12] His post-war plays dealt with similar concerns and included Roméo et Jeannette, Médée (Medea), and Anouilh's Joan of Arc story L'Alouette (The Lark), which, in its distinct optimism, rivalled the commercial success of Antigone.

Anouilh himself grouped his plays of this period on the basis of their dominant tone, publishing his later works in collected volumes to reflect what he felt "represented the phases of his evolution and loosely resembled the distinction between comedy and tragedy."[4] Pièces noires or "Black plays" were tragedies or realistic dramas and included Antigone, Jézabel, and La Sauvage (The Restless Heart). This category typically featured "young, idealistic, and uncompromising protagonists [who] are able to maintain their integrity only by choosing death."[13] By contrast, Anouilh's pièces roses or "pink plays" were comedies where fantasy dominated with an atmosphere similar to that of fairy tales. In these plays such as Le Bal des voleurs (Carnival of Thieves), Le Rendez-vous de Senlis (Dinner with the Family) and Léocadia (Time Remembered), the focus is on "the burden of the environment and especially of the past on a protagonist seeking a happier, freer existence."[12]

Most of Anouilh's plays of the late 1940s and into the 1950s become darker and distinctly cruel and, in contrast with his earlier works, begin to feature middle-aged characters who must view life more practically than Anouilh's former idealistic youths. The playwright divided the works of this period into pièces brillantes ("brilliant plays") and pièces grinçantes ("grating plays"). The first group includes works such as L'Invitation au château (Ring Round the Moon) and Colombe, and are typified by aristocratic settings and witty banter. The grating plays like La Valse des toréadors (Waltz of the Toreadors) and Le Réactionnaire amoureux (The Fighting Cock) are more bitterly funny, trading clever word play for a darker tone of disillusionment.

Another category Anouilh specifies are his pièces costumées ("costume plays") which include The Lark, La Foire d'Empoigne (Catch as Catch Can), and Becket, an international success, depicting the historical martyr Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who sought to defend the church against the monarch (and his friend), Henry II of England, who had appointed him to his see. So classified because they share historical "costumed" settings, Anouilh also specifies that these plays must also prominently feature an enlightened protagonist seeking "a moral path in a world of corruption and manipulation."[12]

Anouilh's final period begins with La Grotte (The Cavern), in which he comments on his own progress as a writer and a theatre artist. The central character is a playwright suffering from writer's block who in his frustration recalls the foibles of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. Anouilh's work had always contained hints of metatheatricality, or commentary on the business of theatre within the world of the play, but in his late works these structures became more fully developed as he begins to write primarily about characters who are dramatists or theatre directors. There is also a pronounced link, during this time, of Anouilh's emphasis of theatre and the family, displaying intimate relationships that are "more profound and more important than the traditional heightened action of 'theatre' ".[who said this?] Antoine, the playwright-protagonist of Cher Antoine; ou, L'Amour raté (Dear Antoine; or, The Love That Failed), asserts that the world must take notice of these pièces secrètes (secret dramas) and Anouilh scholars have proposed this name, pièces secrètes, to classify the collected works of his latest period."[12][clarification needed]

Political controversy

Anouilh remained staunchly apolitical for most of his life and career. He served in the military during at least two periods, having been drafted into the French Army in 1931 and 1939. He was a prisoner of war for a short time when the Germans conquered France and willingly lived and worked in Paris during the subsequent German occupation. Because he refused to take sides during France's collaboration with the Axis Alliance, some critics have branded him as a potential Nazi sympathiser. This controversy escalated as a result of Anouilh's public clashes with the leader of the Free French Forces (and later president of the Fifth Republic), General Charles de Gaulle. In the mid-1940s, Anouilh and several other intellectuals signed a petition for clemency to save the writer Robert Brasillach, who was condemned to death for being a Nazi collaborator. Brasillach was executed by firing squad in February 1945, despite the outcry from Anouilh and his peers that the new government had no right to persecute individuals for "intellectual crimes" in the absence of military or political action.[14] Nevertheless, Anouilh refused to comment on his political views, writing in a letter to the Belgian critic Hubert Gignoux in 1946, "I do not have a biography and I am very happy about it. The rest of my life, as long as God wills it, will remain my personal business, and I will withhold the details of it."[15] Anouilh's plays provide the most important clues about his political point of view, though their reputation for ambiguity further complicates the matter. For instance, Antigone provides an allegorical representation of the debate between the idealistic members of the French Resistance and the pragmatism of the collaborationists. Though many have read the play as having a strong anti-Nazi sentiment, the fact that the Vichy Regime allowed the piece to be performed without censure testifies to the fact that it was potentially seen as supportive of the occupation in its time.[16][17] Though the playwright romanticizes Antigone's sense of honor and duty to what is morally right, in this case resisting the Nazi forces, it can also be said that Anouilh, like Sophocles before him, makes a convincing argument for Creon's method of leadership.[18]

Awards and recognition

In 1970 his work was recognized with the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca. In 2012, the Nobel Records were opened after 50 years and it was revealed that Anouilh was among a shortlist of authors considered for the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, along with John Steinbeck (winner), Robert Graves, Lawrence Durrell and Karen Blixen.[19] According to a report in The Guardian, "It is not clear why Anouilh was passed over, but the French poet Saint-John Perse had taken the Nobel in 1960, meaning that France was well represented on the roster of winners, and Svenska Dagbladet reveals that Jean-Paul Sartre, who won the prize in 1964, was starting to be seriously considered as a candidate."[19]

In 1980, Anouilh was the first recipient of the Grand Prix du Théâtre de l'Académie française established that year.

Critical discussion

By the end of his career, Anouilh's reputation outstripped those of all his contemporaries. However, his repertoire remained unusually confined to theatre and film. Most French dramatists of the 1930s and 1940s, including Anouilh's most significant contemporary influence, Giraudoux, not only wrote for the stage but also composed poetry, novels, or essays.[4] Nevertheless, he remained prolific, consistently producing and publishing performance works for more than fifty years.

Anouilh's early works were "naturalistic studies of a sordid and corrupt world."[5] Many of these plays present the reader with the striking and inescapable dichotomy between pragmatism and a sort of transcendent idealism. There is little to no "middle ground of ambiguity" that exists where this conflict asserts itself.[20] This is evidenced in Le Voyageur Sans Bagage. The main character Gaston, a World War I veteran who suffers from amnesia, cannot remember the moral depravity of his youth (he slept with his brother's wife and severely injured his best friend). This checkered past is invariably at odds with the near-angelic behavior that he now exhibits, and recognition of this truth forces him to leave his former identity behind, unable to reconcile the two sides of himself. In denouncing his past, Gaston reclasses his freedom as an illusion, but one of his own making. He befriends a young English boy and shows him his identifying scar; this gesture allows the boy to describe Gaston to the authorities, thereby claiming him as kin. With a new life and a new family, Gaston has a fresh start.[4] David I. Grossvogel, describes this situation as the "restoration of a childhood paradise lost," attributing Le Voyageur Sans Bagage as the beginning of Anouilh's search to justify the unhappiness of his youth.[21] Theatre historian Marvin Carlson agrees, noting that this play epitomizes the "complex tonality and deft dramatic technique" that remained throughout his work, though, he asserts, it was only as the playwright matured that his "dark view of the human condition [reached] its final expression."[12]

Anouilh disagreed with these somber readings of his best works, however, arguing that, like all great French literature, his plays had found ways to laugh at misfortune. "Thanks to Molière," Anouilh said, "the true French theatre is the only one that is not gloomy, in which we laugh like men at war with our misery and our horror. This humor is one of France's messages to the world."[22]

Disclosing his thoughts on French theatre and his personal perspective as a playwright, he said that the perception of his work was often misguided:

I am played in private theaters, so I write for the bourgeoisie. One has to rely on the people who pay for their places; the people who support the theater are bourgeois. But this public has changed: They have such a terror of not being in touch, of missing out on a fashionable event that they no longer exist as a decisive force. I think the public has lost its head. They now say that a play can't be that good if they can understand it. My plays are not hermetic enough. It's rather Molièresque, don't you think?

— Jean Anouilh[23]

In the 1950s, Anouilh examined his antagonism with General de Gaulle in L'Hurluberlu, ou Le Reactionnaire amoureux (1958) and Le Songe du critique (1960). He began to lose the favor of audiences and critics alike, however, with the emergence of such playwrights as Eugène Ionesco and Samuel Beckett. Though he shared with these authors a "similar desperate vision of human existence,"[24] these new absurdist theatres' pursuit of alternative dramaturgies made Anouilh's semi-realistic plays seem dull and old-fashioned. In the 1980s Anouilh reinvented himself as a director, staging his own plays as well as those of other authors. He died of a heart attack in Lausanne, Switzerland on 3 October 1987. By then divorced from Monelle Valentin, he was survived by his second wife, Nicole Lançon, and four children.[25]

Works

Original theatre productions: Paris

Selected theatre productions: UK

Selected theatre productions: USA

Selected film credits

Selected television productions

  • The Lark by Jean Anouilh, translated from L'Alouette. BBC Saturday-Night Theatre, 1956.
  • Le Jeune Homme et le lion. 1976.
  • Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut. Hungarian TV/ Télécip, 1978.
  • La Belle vie. 1979.
  • Le Diable amoureux by Jean Anouilh et al. Bayerischer Rundfunk/France2/ Radiotelevisão Portuguesa/Telmondis/Westdeutscher Rundfunk, 1991.

Published plays

  • Y'avait un prisonnier (Paris: L'Illustration, 1935).
  • Le Voyageur sans bagage (Paris: L'Illustration, 1937); translated by John Whiting as Traveler without Luggage (London: Methuen, 1959).
  • Les Bal des voleurs (Paris: Fayard, 1938).
  • Antigone (Paris: Didier, 1942); translated by Lewis Galantière as Antigone (New York: Random House, 1946).
  • Pièces roses (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1942) – comprises Le Bal des voleurs, Le Rendez-vous de Senlis, and Léocadia; Le Bal des voleurs translated by Lucienne Hill as Thieves' Carnival (London: Methuen, 1952); Le Rendez-vous de Senlis translated by Edwin O. Marsh as Dinner with the Family (London: Methuen, 1958); Léocadia translated by Patricia Moyes as Time Remembered (London: S. French, 1954).
  • Pièces noires (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1942) – comprises L'Hermine, La Sauvage, Le Voyageur sans bagage, and Eurydice; L'Hermine translated by Miriam John as The Ermine, in Jean Anouilh ... Plays, volume 1 (New York: Hill & Wang, 1958); La Sauvage translated by Hill as Restless Heart (London: Methuen, 1957); Eurydice translated by Kitty Black as Point of Departure (London: S. French, 1951); republished as Legend of Lovers (New York: Coward-McCann, 1952).
  • Nouvelles pièces noires (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1946) – comprises Jézabel, Antigone, Roméo et Jeannette, and Médée; Roméo et Jeannette translated by John as Romeo and Jeannette, in Jean Anouilh ... Plays, volume 1 (New York : Hill & Wang, 1958); "Médée" translated in The Modern Theatre, volume 5, edited by Eric Bentley (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957).
  • Pièces brillantes (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1951) – comprises L'Invitation au château, Colombe, La Répétition, ou L'Amour puni, and Cécile, ou L'Ecole des pères;
  • L'Invitation au château translated by Christopher Fry as Ring round the Moon (London: Methuen, 1950); Colombe translated by Louis Kronenberger as Mademoiselle Colombe (New York: Coward-McCann, 1954).
  • L'Alouette (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1953); translated by Fry as The Lark (London: Methuen, 1955).
  • Pièces grinçantes (Paris: La Table ronde, 1956) – comprises Ardèle, ou La Marguerite, La Valse des Toréadors, Ornifle, ou Le Courant d'air, and Pauvre Bitos, ou Le Dîner de têtes; Ardèle, ou La Marguerite translated by Hill as Ardèle (London: Methuen, 1951); La Valse des Toréadors translated by Hill as Waltz of the Toreadors (London: Elek, 1953; New York: Coward-McCann, 1953); Ornifle, ou Le Courant d'air translated by Hill as It's Later Than You Think (Chicago: Dramatic, 1970); Pauvre Bitos, ou Le dîner de têtes translated by Hill as Poor Bitos (London: Methuen, 1956).
  • Humulus le muet, with Jean Aurenche (Grenoble: Françaises Nouvelles, 1958).
  • Becket, ou L'Honneur de Dieu (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1959); translated by Hill as Becket, or The Honor of God (New York: Coward-McCann, 1960).
  • La Petite Molière (Paris: L'Avant-Scène, 1959).
  • L'Hurluberlu, ou Le Réactionnaire amoureux (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1959); translated by Hill as The Fighting Cock (London: Methuen, 1967).
  • Madame de ..., translated by Whiting (London: S. French, 1959).
  • Le Songe du critique, edited by Richard Fenzl, (Dortmund: Lensing, 1960).
  • La Foire d'empoigne (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1960); translated by Anouilh and Roland Piétri as Catch as Catch Can, in Jean Anouilh ... Plays, volume 3 (New York: Hill & Wang, 1967).
  • La Grotte (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1961); translated by Hill as The Cavern (New York: Hill & Wang, 1966).
  • Fables (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1962).
  • Le Boulanger, la boulangère, et le petit mitron (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1969).
  • Cher Antoine, ou L'Amour rate (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1969); translated by Hill as Dear Antoine, or The Love That Failed (New York: Hill & Wang, 1971; London: Eyre Methuen, 1971).
  • Les Poissons rouges, ou Mon Père, ce héros (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1970).
  • Ne Réveillez pas Madame (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1970).
  • Nouvelles Pièces grinçantes (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1970)--includes L'Hurluberlu, ou Le Réactionnaire amoureux, La Grotte, L'Orchestre, Le Boulanger, la boulangère, et le petit mitron, and Les Poissons rouges, ou Mon Père, ce héros; L'Orchestre translated by John as The Orchestra, in Jean Anouilh ... Plays, volume 3 (New York: Hill & Wang, 1967).
  • Tu étais si gentil quand tu étais petit (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1972).
  • Le Directeur de l'opéra (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1972); translated by Hill as The Director of the Opera (London: Eyre Methuen, 1973).
  • L'Arrestation (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1975); translated by Hill as The Arrest (New York: S. French, 1978).
  • Le Scénario (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1976).
  • Chers Zoiseaux (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1977).
  • La Culotte (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1978).
  • La Belle vie suivi de Episode de la vie d'un auteur (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1980).
  • Le Nombril (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1981); translated by Michael Frayn as Number One (London & New York: S. French, 1985).
  • Oedipe, ou Le Roi boiteux: d'après Sophocle (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1986).
  • La Vicomtesse d'Eristal n'a pas reçu son balai mécanique: Souvenirs d'un jeune homme (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1987).

English language anthologies

  • Jean Anouilh ... Plays, translated by Lewis Galantière et al., 3 volumes (New York: Hill & Wang, 1958–1967).
  • Collected Plays, 2 volumes translated by Lucienne Hill et al. (London: Methuen, 1966, 1967).
  • Five Plays by Jean Anouilh, introduction by Ned Chaillet translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker et al., (London: Methuen, 1987).
  • Anouilh Plays: Two, introduction by Ned Chaillet translated by Jeremy Sams et al., (London: Methuen, 1997).

Theory and criticism

  • En marge du théâtre, edited by Efrin Knight, (Paris: La Table Ronde, 2000).
  • Le Dossier Molière, with Léon Thoorens et al., (Verviers: Gerard, 1964).

Translations by Anouilh

  • William Shakespeare, Trois comédies: Comme il vous plaira, La Nuit des rois, Le Conte d'hiver, [Three Comedies: As You like It, Twelfth Night, and The Winter's Tale] translated by Anouilh and Claude Vincent (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1952).
  • Graham Greene, L'Amant complaisant, translated by Anouilh and Nicole Anouilh (Paris: Laffont, 1962).
  • Oscar Wilde, Il est important d'être aimé, [The Importance of Being Earnest] translated by Anouilh and Nicole Anouilh (Paris: Papiers, 1985).

Other publications

  • Michel-Marie Poulain, by Anouilh, Pierre Imbourg, and André Warnod, preface by Michel Mourre (Paris: Braun, 1953).
  • Le Loup, ballet scenario by Anouilh and Georges Neveux, music by Henri Dutilleux (Paris: Ricordi, 1953).

References

  1. ^ Not, as often mispronounced, French pronunciation: ​[anwi].
  2. ^ Norwich, John Julius (1990). Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia Of The Arts. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0198691372.
  3. ^ Smith, Christopher Norman (1985). Jean Anouilh, Life, Work, and Criticism. London: York Press. ISBN 0-919966-42-X.
  4. ^ a b c d Rocchi, Michel (2006). Mary Anne O'Neil (ed.). "Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh" in Twentieth-Century French Dramatists. Detroit: Gale Biography in Context.
  5. ^ a b Liukkonen, Petri. . Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 30 April 2007.
  6. ^ Anouilh, Caroline (1990). Drôle de père. Paris: M. Lafon. ISBN 2863913735.
  7. ^ Falb, Lewis W. (1977). Jean Anouilh. New York: Ungar. pp. 10–12.
  8. ^ Levi, Anthony (1992). Guide to French Literature: 1789 to the Present. Vol. 2. New York: St. James Press. pp. 20–25.
  9. ^ Brockett, Oscar Gross (1968). History of the Theatre. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. p. 442.
  10. ^ Pronko, Leonard Cabell (1961). The World of Jean Anouilh. Los Angeles: University of California Press. pp. xix–xxii.
  11. ^ Brockett. History of the Theatre. pp. 458–485.
  12. ^ a b c d e Carlson, Marvin (1995). "Jean Anouilh" in Reference Guide to World Literature. New York: St. James Press.
  13. ^ Brockett. History of the Theatre. p. 483.
  14. ^ Kaplan, Alice (2000). The Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-42414-6.
  15. ^ Ginestier, Paul (1969). Jean Anouilh: Textes de Anouilh, points de vue critique témoignages. Paris: Seghers.
  16. ^ Wiles, David (2000). "Politics." in Greek Theatre Performance: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 63. ISBN 0521648572.
  17. ^ Krauss, Kenneth (2004). The Drama of Fallen France; Reading la Comédie sans Tickets. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 106–109. ISBN 0791459535.
  18. ^ Smith. Life, Work, and Criticism. pp. 24–26.
  19. ^ a b Alison Flood (3 January 2013). "Swedish Academy reopens controversy surrounding Steinbeck's Nobel prize". The Guardian. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  20. ^ Pucciani, Orestes (1954). The French Theatre Since 1930. Boston: Ginn. p. 146.
  21. ^ Grossvogel, David I. (1958). The Self-conscious Stage in Modern French Drama. New York: Columbia University Press.
  22. ^ Qtd. in Hotchman, Stanley (1972). McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama. McGraw Hill.
  23. ^ Porter, Melinda Camber (1993). Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo. pp. 29–35. ISBN 0-306-80540-5.
  24. ^ Liukkonen, Petri and Ari Pesonen. "Jean Anouilh (1910-1987)". {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  25. ^ Jane Gross (October 5, 1987). "Jean Anouilh, the French Playwright, Is Dead at 77". New York Times. Retrieved 30 May 2022.

External links

jean, anouilh, jean, marie, lucien, pierre, anouilh, french, ʒɑ, anuj, june, 1910, october, 1987, french, dramatist, screenwriter, whose, career, spanned, five, decades, though, work, ranged, from, high, drama, absurdist, farce, anouilh, best, known, 1944, pla. Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh French ʒɑ anuj 1 23 June 1910 3 October 1987 was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play Antigone an adaptation of Sophocles classical drama that was seen as an attack on Marshal Petain s Vichy government His plays are less experimental than those of his contemporaries having clearly organized plot and eloquent dialogue 2 One of France s most prolific writers after World War II much of Anouilh s work deals with themes of maintaining integrity in a world of moral compromise 3 Jean AnouilhAnouilh c 1953BornJean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh 1910 06 23 23 June 1910Bordeaux FranceDied3 October 1987 1987 10 03 aged 77 Lausanne SwitzerlandOccupationDramatist and screenwriterLiterary movementModernismNotable worksThe LarkBecketTraveler without LuggageAntigoneNotable awardsPrix mondial Cino Del DucaSpouseMonelle Valentin m 1931 Nicole Lancon m 1953 Signature Contents 1 Life and career 1 1 Early life 1 2 Theatre work 1 3 Playwright 1 4 Political controversy 1 5 Awards and recognition 2 Critical discussion 3 Works 3 1 Original theatre productions Paris 3 2 Selected theatre productions UK 3 3 Selected theatre productions USA 3 4 Selected film credits 3 5 Selected television productions 3 6 Published plays 3 7 English language anthologies 3 8 Theory and criticism 3 9 Translations by Anouilh 3 10 Other publications 4 References 5 External linksLife and career EditEarly life Edit Anouilh was born in Cerisole a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux France and had Basque ancestry His father Francois Anouilh was a tailor and Anouilh maintained that he inherited from him a pride in conscientious craftmanship He may owe his artistic bent to his mother Marie Magdeleine a violinist who supplemented the family s meager income by playing summer seasons in the casino orchestra in the nearby seaside resort of Arcachon Marie Magdeleine worked the night shifts in the music hall orchestras and sometimes accompanied stage presentations affording Anouilh ample opportunity to absorb the dramatic performances from backstage He often attended rehearsals and solicited the resident authors to let him read scripts until bedtime He first tried his hand at playwriting here at the age of 12 though his earliest works do not survive 4 The Lycee Chaptal at the corner of rue de Rome and the boulevard des BatignollesIn 1918 the family moved to Paris where the young Anouilh received his secondary education at the Lycee Chaptal Jean Louis Barrault later a major French director was a pupil there at the same time and recalls Anouilh as an intense rather dandified figure who hardly noticed a boy some two years younger than himself He earned acceptance into the law school at the Sorbonne but unable to support himself financially he left after just 18 months to seek work as a copywriter at the advertising agency Publicite Damour He liked the work and spoke more than once with wry approval of the lessons in the classical virtues of brevity and precision of language he learned while drafting advertising copy 5 The grave of Anouilh his eldest daughter Catherine 1934 1989 and his last partner Ursula Wetzel 1938 2010 at the cemetery of Pully near Lausanne Anouilh s financial troubles continued after he was called up to military service in 1929 Supported by only his meager conscription salary Anouilh married the actress Monelle Valentin in 1931 Though Valentin starred in many of his plays Anouilh s daughter Caroline from his second marriage claims that the marriage was not a happy one Anouilh s youngest daughter Colombe even claims that there was never an official marriage between Anouilh and Valentin She allegedly had multiple extramarital affairs which caused Anouilh much pain and suffering The infidelity weighed heavily on the dramatist as a result of the uncertainty about his own parentage According to Caroline Anouilh had learned that his mother had had a lover at the theatre in Arcachon who was actually his biological father In spite of this Anouilh and Valentin had a daughter Catherine in 1934 who followed the pair into theatre work at an early age Anouilh s growing family placed further strain on his already limited finances Determined to break into writing full time he began to write comic scenes for the cinema to supplement their income 6 Theatre work Edit At the age of 25 Anouilh found work as a secretary to the French actor and director Louis Jouvet at the Comedie des Champs Elysees Though Anouilh s boss had happily lent him some of the set furniture left over from the production of Jean Giraudoux s play Siegfried to furnish his modest home the director was not interested in encouraging his assistant s attempts at playwriting 7 Jouvet had risen to fame in the early 1930s through his collaborations with the playwright Giraudoux and together the two worked to shift focus from the authorial voice of the director which had dominated the French stage since the early twentieth century back to the playwright and his text Giraudoux was an inspiration to Anouilh and with the encouragement of the acclaimed playwright he began writing again in 1929 Before the end of the year he made his theatrical debut with Humulus le muet a collaborative project with Jean Aurenche It was followed by his first solo projects L Hermine The Ermine in 1932 and Mandarine in 1933 both produced by Aurelien Lugne Poe an innovative actor and stage manager who was then head of the Theatre de l Œuvre 8 Ruled by the philosophy the word creates the decor Lugne Poe let Anouilh s lyrical prose shine in front of a backdrop of simple compositions of line and color that created a unity of style and mood 9 The plays were not great successes closing after 37 and 13 performances respectively but Anouilh persevered following it up with a string of productions most notably Y avait un prisonnier 1935 These works most in collaboration with the experimental Russian director Georges Pitoeff were considered promising despite their lack of commercial profits and the duo continued to work together until they had their first major success in 1937 with Le voyageur sans bagage Traveller Without Luggage In subsequent years there was rarely a season in Paris that did not prominently feature a new Anouilh play and many of these were also being exported to England and America 10 After 1938 however much of Anouilh s later work was directed by the prominent Paris scenic designer Andre Barsacq who had taken over as director of the Theatre de l Atelier after Charles Dullin s retirement in 1940 Barsacq was a champion for Anouilh and their affiliation was a major factor in the playwright s continued success after the war 11 Playwright Edit In the 1940s Anouilh turned from contemporary tales to more mythical classic and historic subjects With protagonists who asserted their independence from the fated past themes during this period are more closely related to the existential concerns of such writers as Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus The most famous play of this group is Antigone which established Anouilh as a leading dramatist not only because of the power with which he drew the classic confrontation between the uncompromising Antigone and the politically expedient Creon but also because French theatre goers under the occupation read the play as a contemporary political parable 12 His post war plays dealt with similar concerns and included Romeo et Jeannette Medee Medea and Anouilh s Joan of Arc story L Alouette The Lark which in its distinct optimism rivalled the commercial success of Antigone Anouilh himself grouped his plays of this period on the basis of their dominant tone publishing his later works in collected volumes to reflect what he felt represented the phases of his evolution and loosely resembled the distinction between comedy and tragedy 4 Pieces noires or Black plays were tragedies or realistic dramas and included Antigone Jezabel and La Sauvage The Restless Heart This category typically featured young idealistic and uncompromising protagonists who are able to maintain their integrity only by choosing death 13 By contrast Anouilh s pieces roses or pink plays were comedies where fantasy dominated with an atmosphere similar to that of fairy tales In these plays such as Le Bal des voleurs Carnival of Thieves Le Rendez vous de Senlis Dinner with the Family and Leocadia Time Remembered the focus is on the burden of the environment and especially of the past on a protagonist seeking a happier freer existence 12 Most of Anouilh s plays of the late 1940s and into the 1950s become darker and distinctly cruel and in contrast with his earlier works begin to feature middle aged characters who must view life more practically than Anouilh s former idealistic youths The playwright divided the works of this period into pieces brillantes brilliant plays and pieces grincantes grating plays The first group includes works such as L Invitation au chateau Ring Round the Moon and Colombe and are typified by aristocratic settings and witty banter The grating plays like La Valse des toreadors Waltz of the Toreadors and Le Reactionnaire amoureux The Fighting Cock are more bitterly funny trading clever word play for a darker tone of disillusionment Another category Anouilh specifies are his pieces costumees costume plays which include The Lark La Foire d Empoigne Catch as Catch Can and Becket an international success depicting the historical martyr Thomas Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury who sought to defend the church against the monarch and his friend Henry II of England who had appointed him to his see So classified because they share historical costumed settings Anouilh also specifies that these plays must also prominently feature an enlightened protagonist seeking a moral path in a world of corruption and manipulation 12 Anouilh s final period begins with La Grotte The Cavern in which he comments on his own progress as a writer and a theatre artist The central character is a playwright suffering from writer s block who in his frustration recalls the foibles of Luigi Pirandello s Six Characters in Search of an Author Anouilh s work had always contained hints of metatheatricality or commentary on the business of theatre within the world of the play but in his late works these structures became more fully developed as he begins to write primarily about characters who are dramatists or theatre directors There is also a pronounced link during this time of Anouilh s emphasis of theatre and the family displaying intimate relationships that are more profound and more important than the traditional heightened action of theatre who said this Antoine the playwright protagonist of Cher Antoine ou L Amour rate Dear Antoine or The Love That Failed asserts that the world must take notice of these pieces secretes secret dramas and Anouilh scholars have proposed this name pieces secretes to classify the collected works of his latest period 12 clarification needed Political controversy Edit Anouilh remained staunchly apolitical for most of his life and career He served in the military during at least two periods having been drafted into the French Army in 1931 and 1939 He was a prisoner of war for a short time when the Germans conquered France and willingly lived and worked in Paris during the subsequent German occupation Because he refused to take sides during France s collaboration with the Axis Alliance some critics have branded him as a potential Nazi sympathiser This controversy escalated as a result of Anouilh s public clashes with the leader of the Free French Forces and later president of the Fifth Republic General Charles de Gaulle In the mid 1940s Anouilh and several other intellectuals signed a petition for clemency to save the writer Robert Brasillach who was condemned to death for being a Nazi collaborator Brasillach was executed by firing squad in February 1945 despite the outcry from Anouilh and his peers that the new government had no right to persecute individuals for intellectual crimes in the absence of military or political action 14 Nevertheless Anouilh refused to comment on his political views writing in a letter to the Belgian critic Hubert Gignoux in 1946 I do not have a biography and I am very happy about it The rest of my life as long as God wills it will remain my personal business and I will withhold the details of it 15 Anouilh s plays provide the most important clues about his political point of view though their reputation for ambiguity further complicates the matter For instance Antigone provides an allegorical representation of the debate between the idealistic members of the French Resistance and the pragmatism of the collaborationists Though many have read the play as having a strong anti Nazi sentiment the fact that the Vichy Regime allowed the piece to be performed without censure testifies to the fact that it was potentially seen as supportive of the occupation in its time 16 17 Though the playwright romanticizes Antigone s sense of honor and duty to what is morally right in this case resisting the Nazi forces it can also be said that Anouilh like Sophocles before him makes a convincing argument for Creon s method of leadership 18 Awards and recognition Edit In 1970 his work was recognized with the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca In 2012 the Nobel Records were opened after 50 years and it was revealed that Anouilh was among a shortlist of authors considered for the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature along with John Steinbeck winner Robert Graves Lawrence Durrell and Karen Blixen 19 According to a report in The Guardian It is not clear why Anouilh was passed over but the French poet Saint John Perse had taken the Nobel in 1960 meaning that France was well represented on the roster of winners and Svenska Dagbladet reveals that Jean Paul Sartre who won the prize in 1964 was starting to be seriously considered as a candidate 19 In 1980 Anouilh was the first recipient of the Grand Prix du Theatre de l Academie francaise established that year Critical discussion EditBy the end of his career Anouilh s reputation outstripped those of all his contemporaries However his repertoire remained unusually confined to theatre and film Most French dramatists of the 1930s and 1940s including Anouilh s most significant contemporary influence Giraudoux not only wrote for the stage but also composed poetry novels or essays 4 Nevertheless he remained prolific consistently producing and publishing performance works for more than fifty years Anouilh s early works were naturalistic studies of a sordid and corrupt world 5 Many of these plays present the reader with the striking and inescapable dichotomy between pragmatism and a sort of transcendent idealism There is little to no middle ground of ambiguity that exists where this conflict asserts itself 20 This is evidenced in Le Voyageur Sans Bagage The main character Gaston a World War I veteran who suffers from amnesia cannot remember the moral depravity of his youth he slept with his brother s wife and severely injured his best friend This checkered past is invariably at odds with the near angelic behavior that he now exhibits and recognition of this truth forces him to leave his former identity behind unable to reconcile the two sides of himself In denouncing his past Gaston reclasses his freedom as an illusion but one of his own making He befriends a young English boy and shows him his identifying scar this gesture allows the boy to describe Gaston to the authorities thereby claiming him as kin With a new life and a new family Gaston has a fresh start 4 David I Grossvogel describes this situation as the restoration of a childhood paradise lost attributing Le Voyageur Sans Bagage as the beginning of Anouilh s search to justify the unhappiness of his youth 21 Theatre historian Marvin Carlson agrees noting that this play epitomizes the complex tonality and deft dramatic technique that remained throughout his work though he asserts it was only as the playwright matured that his dark view of the human condition reached its final expression 12 Anouilh disagreed with these somber readings of his best works however arguing that like all great French literature his plays had found ways to laugh at misfortune Thanks to Moliere Anouilh said the true French theatre is the only one that is not gloomy in which we laugh like men at war with our misery and our horror This humor is one of France s messages to the world 22 Disclosing his thoughts on French theatre and his personal perspective as a playwright he said that the perception of his work was often misguided I am played in private theaters so I write for the bourgeoisie One has to rely on the people who pay for their places the people who support the theater are bourgeois But this public has changed They have such a terror of not being in touch of missing out on a fashionable event that they no longer exist as a decisive force I think the public has lost its head They now say that a play can t be that good if they can understand it My plays are not hermetic enough It s rather Molieresque don t you think Jean Anouilh 23 In the 1950s Anouilh examined his antagonism with General de Gaulle in L Hurluberlu ou Le Reactionnaire amoureux 1958 and Le Songe du critique 1960 He began to lose the favor of audiences and critics alike however with the emergence of such playwrights as Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett Though he shared with these authors a similar desperate vision of human existence 24 these new absurdist theatres pursuit of alternative dramaturgies made Anouilh s semi realistic plays seem dull and old fashioned In the 1980s Anouilh reinvented himself as a director staging his own plays as well as those of other authors He died of a heart attack in Lausanne Switzerland on 3 October 1987 By then divorced from Monelle Valentin he was survived by his second wife Nicole Lancon and four children 25 Works EditOriginal theatre productions Paris Edit L Hermine Theatre de l Œuvre 26 April 1932 Directed by Paulette Pax With Pierre Fresnay Paulette Pax Marie Reinhardt Mandarine Theatre de l Athenee 17 January 1933 Directed by Gerard Batbedat With Paul Lalloz Milly Mathis Madeleine Ozeray Y avait un prisonnier Theatre des Ambassadeurs 21 March 1935 Presented by Marie Bell With Aime Clariond Marguerite Pierry Andre Alerme Le Voyageur sans bagage Theatre des Mathurins 16 February 1937 Directed by Georges Pitoeff With Georges Pitoeff Marthe Mellot Louis Salou Madeleine Milhaud La Sauvage Theatre des Mathurins 10 January 1938 Directed by Georges Pitoeff With Ludmilla Pitoeff Georges Pitoeff Louis Salou Madeleine Milhaud Le Bal de voleurs Theatre des Arts 17 September 1938 Directed by Andre Barsacq With Pierre Palau Madeleine Geoffroy Leocadia Theatre de la Michodiere 28 November 1940 Directed by Andre Barsacq With Pierre Fresnay Yvonne Printemps Marguerite Deval Le Rendez vous de Senlis Theatre de l Atelier 30 January 1941 Directed by Andre Barsacq With Michel Vitold Denise Bosc Jean Daste Madeleine Geoffroy Georges Rollin Monelle Valentin Eurydice Theatre de l Atelier 18 December 1941 Directed by Andre Barsacq With Alain Cuny Monelle Valentin Jean Daste Auguste Boverio Antigone Theatre de l Atelier 4 February 1944 Directed by Andre Barsacq With Monelle Valentin Jean Davy Auguste Boverio Andre Le Gall Romeo et Jeanette Theatre de l Atelier 20 November 1946 Directed by Andre Barsacq With Maria Casares Jean Chevrier later Jean Vilar Suzanne Flon Michel Bouquet L Invitation au chateau Theatre de l Atelier 4 November 1947 Directed by Andre Barsacq With Michel Bouquet Dany Robin Betty Daussmond Robert Vattier Madeleine Geoffroy Episode de la vie d un auteur Comedie des Champs Elysees 3 November 1948 Directed by Roland Pietri With Claude Sainval Helena Manson Jean Paul Roussillon Ardele ou la Marguerite Comedie des Champs Elysees 3 November 1948 Directed by Roland Pietri With Marcel Peres Jacques Castelot Mary Morgan Claude Sainval Andree Clement La Repetition ou l Amour puni Theatre Marigny 25 October 1950 Directed by Jean Louis Barrault With Jean Louis Barrault Jean Servais Madeleine Renaud Simone Valere Colombe Theatre de l Atelier 11 February 1951 Directed by Andre Barsacq With Marie Ventura Daniele Delorme Yves Robert La Valse des toreadors Comedie des Champs Elysees 9 January 1952 Directed by Roland Pietri With Claude Sainval Marie Ventura Madeleine Barbulee Francois Guerin L Alouette Theatre Montparnasse Gaston Baty 14 October 1952 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Suzanne Flon Michel Bouquet Marcel Andre Medee Theatre de l Atelier 26 March 1953 Directed by Andre Barsacq With Jean Servais Michele Alfa Jean Paul Belmondo First produced in Hamburg Germany on 2 November 1948 Cecile ou l Ecole des peres Comedie des Champs Elysees 29 October 1954 Directed by Roland Pietri With Henri Guisol Catherine Anouilh Maurice Meric Ornifle ou le Courant d air Comedie des Champs Elysees 4 November 1955 Directed by Claude Sainval With Pierre Brasseur Jacqueline Maillan Louis de Funes Catherine Anouilh Pauvre Bitos ou le Diner de tetes Theatre Montparnasse Gaston Baty 12 October 1956 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Michel Bouquet Bruno Cremer Pierre Mondy Roland Pietri L Hurluberlu ou le Reactionnaire amoureux Comedie des Champs Elysees 5 February 1959 Directed by Roland Pietri With Paul Meurisse Jean Claudio Dominique Blanchar Edith Scob Becket ou l Honneur de Dieu Theatre Montparnasse Gaston Baty 1 October 1959 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Daniel Ivernel and Bruno Cremer La Petite Moliere Co written by Roland Laudenbach Odeon Theatre de France 12 November 1959 Directed by Jean Louis Barrault With Jean Louis Barrault Madeleine Renaud Simone Valere Jean Desailly Catherine Anouilh Le Songe du critique Comedie des Champs Elysees 5 November 1960 Directed by the author With Jean Le Poulain Denise Benoit Francois Perier Claude Sainval Roland Pietri La Grotte Theatre Montparnasse Gaston Baty 6 October 1961 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Jean Le Poulain Lila Kedrova L Orchestre Comedie des Champs Elysees 20 October 1962 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Madeleine Barbulee Dominique Davray Henri Virlogeux La Foire d empoigne Comedie des Champs Elysees 20 October 1962 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Paul Meurisse Henri Virlogeux Le Boulanger la boulangere et le petit mitron Comedie des Champs Elysees 14 November 1968 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Michel Bouquet Sophie Daumier Jean Paredes Edith Scob Cher Antoine ou l Amour rate Comedie des Champs Elysees 1 October 1969 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Jacques Francois Francoise Rosay Francine Berge Les Poissons rouges ou Mon pere ce heros Theatre de l Œuvre 21 January 1970 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Marcel Galabru Jean Pierre Marielle Lyne Chardonnet Madeleine Barbulee Ne reveillez pas Madame Comedie des Champs Elysees 21 October 1970 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Francois Perier Jean Paredes Daniele Lebrun Tu etais si gentil quand tu etais petit Theatre Antoine 17 January 1972 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Francine Berge Daniele Lebrun Claude Giraud Le Directeur de l Opera Comedie des Champs Elysees 27 September 1972 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Paul Meurisse Jean Paredes Madeleine Barbulee Monsieur Barnett Cafe Theatre des Halles 29 October 1974 Directed by Nicole Anouilh With Jean Perimony Bernard Tixier Christine Murillo First produced in Bristol UK on 12 September 1967 L Arrestation Theatre de l Athenee 20 September 1975 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Claude Dauphin Jacques Francois Genevieve Fontanel Le Scenario Theatre de l Œuvre 29 September 1976 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Daniel Gelin Jacques Fabbri Sabine Azema Chers zoiseaux Comedie des Champs Elysees 3 December 1976 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Guy Trejan Francoise Brion Jacques Castelot Michel Lonsdale La Culotte Theatre de l Atelier 19 September 1978 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Jean Pierre Marielle Christian Marin Gilberte Geniat Le Nombril Paris Theatre de l Atelier 24 September 1981 Directed by the author and Roland Pietri With Bernard Blier Francoise Brion Guy Grosso Christian Marin Selected theatre productions UK Edit Identity Unknown Le Voyageur sans bagage Duke of York s Theatre London 5 December 1937 Presented by the London International Theatre Club With Bernard Lee Mary Merrall Alan Napier Catherine Lacey Antigone New Theatre London 10 February 1949 Directed by Laurence Olivier With Laurence Olivier Vivien Leigh George Relph Terence Morgan Fading Mansion Romeo et Jeanette Duchess Theatre London 31 August 1949 Directed by Anthony Bushell With Siobhan McKenna George Relph Michael Gough Ring Round the Moon L Invitation au chateau Globe Theatre London 26 January 1950 Directed by Peter Brook With Paul Scofield Claire Bloom Margaret Rutherford Cecil Trouncer Mona Washbourne Point of Departure Eurydice Duke of York s Theatre London 26 December 1950 Directed by Peter Ashmore With Dirk Bogarde later Peter Finch Mai Zetterling Hugh Griffith Stephen Murray Eric Pohlmann Ardele Vaudeville Theatre London 30 August 1951 Directed by Anthony Pelissier With George Relph Ronald Squire Isabel Jeans Nicholas Phipps Veronica Hurst Colombe New Theatre London 13 December 1951 Directed by Peter Brook With Yvonne Arnaud Joyce Redman Michael Gough John Stratton Thieves Carnival Arts Theatre London 2 January 1952 Directed by Roy Rich With John Laurie Harold Lang Robin Bailey Maxine Audley Time Remembered Leocadia Lyric Hammersmith London 2 December 1954 Directed by William Chappell With Mary Ure Paul Scofield Margaret Rutherford The Lark Lyric Hammersmith London 11 May 1955 Directed by Peter Brook With Dorothy Tutin Richard Johnson Donald Pleasence Leo McKern The Ermine Nottingham Playhouse 19 September 1955 Directed by John Harrison With Frederick Bartman Daphne Slater Mavis Edwards Joan Plowright The Waltz of the Toreadors Arts Theatre London 24 February 1956 Then Criterion Theare London 27 March 1956 Directed by Peter Hall With Hugh Griffith Beatrix Lehmann Brenda Bruce later Renee Asherson Trader Faulkner Restless Heart La Sauvage St James s Theatre London 8 May 1957 Directed by William Chappell With Mai Zetterling Donald Pleasence George Baker Peter Bull Dinner with the Family Le Rendez vous de Senlis New Theatre London 10 December 1957 Directed by Frank Hauser With John Justin Jill Bennett Alan MacNaughtan Lally Bowers Ian Hendry Jezebel Oxford Playhouse 22 September 1958 Directed by Frank Hauser With Dirk Bogarde Hermione Baddeley Doreen Aris Premiered in Rio de Janeiro in 1942 this play was never produced in France Traveller Without Luggage Arts Theatre London 29 January 1959 Directed by Peter Hall With Denholm Elliott Joyce Carey Geoffrey Keen Elizabeth Sellars The Rehearsal La Repetition ou l Amour puni Globe Theatre London 6 April 1961 Directed by John Hale With Alan Badel Phyllis Calvert Robert Hardy Maggie Smith later Jennifer Daniel Becket Aldwych Theatre London 11 July 1961 Then Globe Theatre London 13 December 1961 Directed by Peter Hall With Christopher Plummer and Eric Porter Poor Bitos Arts Theatre London 13 November 1963 Then Duke of York s Theatre London 6 January 1964 Directed by Shirley Butler With Donald Pleasence later Peter Woodthorpe Charles Gray Ronald Lewis Terence Alexander The Cavern La Grotte Strand Theatre London 11 November 1965 Directed by Donald McWhinnie With Alec McCowen Siobhan McKenna Griffith Jones Gemma Jones The Fighting Cock L Hurluberlu ou le Reactionnaire amoureux Festival Theatre Chichester 7 June 1966 Then Duke of York s Theatre London 25 October 1966 Directed by Norman Marshall With John Clements Zena Walker John Standing Monsieur Barnett plus The Orchestra Bristol Old Vic Company Bristol 12 September 1967 Directed by Antony Tuckey With Martin Friend Stephanie Beacham Maggie Jones Thelma Barlow Marcia Warren Ring Round the Moon Haymarket Theatre London 30 October 1968 Directed by Noel Willman With John Standing Maureen O Brien Isabel Jeans Bill Fraser Flora Robson Dear Antoine Festival Theatre Chichester 19 May 1971 Then Piccadilly Theatre London 3 November 1971 Directed by Robin Phillips With John Clements Edith Evans Isabel Jeans in London Joyce Redman Renee Asherson The Baker the Baker s Wife and the Baker s Boy University Theatre Newcastle 28 September 1972 Directed by Gareth Morgan With Freddie Jones Yvonne Mitchell Tim Barlow Gillian Hanna The Director of the Opera Festival Theatre Chichester 8 May 1973 Directed by Peter Dews With John Clements Richard Pearson Penelope Wilton The Waltz of the Toreadors Haymarket Theatre London 14 February 1974 Directed by Peter Dews With Trevor Howard Coral Browne Zena Walker Ian Ogilvy You Were So Sweet When You Were Little New End Theatre London 9 April 1974 Directed by Misha Williams With Angela Pleasence Paul Jones Andrew Crawford The Arrest Bristol Old Vic Bristol 27 November 1974 Directed by Val May With Alan Dobie John Hurt Michael Rothwell Charlotte Cornwell World premiere Ardele Queen s Theatre London 18 June 1975 Directed by Frith Banbury With Charles Gray Vincent Price Coral Browne Allan Cuthbertson Lalla Ward The Scenario Forum Theatre Billingham 29 November 1976 Directed by Stuart Burge With Trevor Howard Gary Bond John Bluthal Angela Douglas The Rehearsal Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford 18 January 1983 then touring Directed by Gillian Lynne With Dinsdale Landen Leslie Caron Peter Jeffrey Lalla Ward Number One Le Nombril Theatre Royal Windsor 13 March 1984 Then Queen s Theatre London 24 April 1984 Directed by Robert Chetwyn With Leo McKern Margaret Whiting Anthony Sharp Peter Blythe Ring Round the Moon Festival Theatre Chichester 1 August 1988 Directed by Elijah Moshinsky With Michael Siberry Holly Aird Googie Withers Jose Ferrer June Whitfield Eurydice Minerva Theatre Chichester 6 June 1990 Directed by Michael Rudman With William Oxborrow Shirley Henderson Simon McBurney The Rehearsal Almeida Theatre London 13 September 1990 Then Garrick Theatre London 14 November 1990 Directed by Ian McDiarmid With Jonathan Kent later Miles Anderson Nicola Pagett later Mel Martin Jonathan Hyde later Gary Bond Julia Ormond later Valerie Gogan Becket Haymarket Theatre London 8 October 1991 Directed by Elijah Moshinsky With Robert Lindsay and Derek Jacobi Mademoiselle Colombe Bridewell Theatre London 4 October 2000 Directed by Graeme Messer With Honor Blackman Donald Pickering Sophie Bold Wild Orchids Leocadia Festival Theatre Chichester 29 May 2002 Directed by Edward Kemp With Catherine Walker Andrew Scarborough Patricia Routledge The Waltz of the Toreadors Minerva Theatre Chichester 16 June 2007 Directed by Angus Jackson With Peter Bowles Maggie Steed Catherine Russell Al Weaver Ring Round the Moon Playhouse Theatre London 19 February 2008 Directed by Sean Mathias With JJ Feild Fiona Button Angela Thorne Leigh Lawson Belinda Lang The Rehearsal Minerva Theatre Chichester 18 May 2015 Directed by Jeremy Sams With Edward Bennett Niamh Cusack Jamie Glover Gabrielle Dempsey Welcome Home Captain Fox Le Voyageur sans bagage Donmar Warehouse London 6 March 2016 Directed by Blanche McIntyre With Rory Keenan Sian Thomas Fenella Woolgar The Orchestra Omnibus Theatre London 29 January 2019 Directed by Kristine Landon Smith With Amanda Osborne Sarah Waddell Stefania Licari Selected theatre productions USA Edit Antigone Cort Theatre New York City 18 February 1946 Directed by Guthrie McClintic With Katharine Cornell Cedric Hardwicke Cry of the Peacock Ardele ou la Marguerite Mansfield Theatre New York City 11 April 1950 Directed by Martin Ritt With Raymond Lovell Oscar Karlweis Marta Linden Ring Round the Moon L Invitation au chateau Martin Beck Theatre New York City 23 November 1950 Directed by Gilbert Miller With Denholm Elliott Stella Andrew Lucile Watson Oscar Karlweis Brenda Forbes Legend of Lovers Eurydice Plymouth Theatre New York City 26 December 1951 Directed by Peter Ashmore With Richard Burton Dorothy McGuire Hugh Griffith Noel Willman Mademoiselle Colombe Longacre Theatre New York City 6 January 1954 Directed by Harold Clurman With Edna Best Julie Harris Eli Wallach Thieves Carnival Cherry Lane Theatre New York City off Broadway 1 June 1955 Directed by Warren Enters With William LeMassena Stuart Vaughan Tom Bosley Frances Sternhagen The Lark Longacre Theatre New York City 17 November 1955 Directed by Joseph Anthony With Julie Harris Theodore Bikel Boris Karloff Christopher Plummer Joseph Wiseman Paul Roebling The Waltz of the Toreadors Coronet Theatre New York City 17 January 1957 Directed by Harold Clurman With Ralph Richardson later Melvyn Douglas Mildred Natwick Time Remembered Leocadia Morosco Theatre New York City 12 November 1957 Directed by Albert Marre With Richard Burton Susan Strasberg Helen Hayes The Fighting Cock L Hurluberlu ou le Reactionnaire amoureux ANTA Playhouse New York City 8 December 1959 Directed by Peter Brook With Rex Harrison Roddy McDowall Natasha Parry Michael Gough Alan MacNaughtan Arthur Treacher Jeanette Romeo et Jeanette Maidman Playhouse New York City off Broadway 24 March 1960 Directed by Harold Clurman With Juleen Compton Geoffrey Horne Patricia Bosworth Sorrell Booke Becket St James Theatre New York City 5 October 1960 Directed by Peter Glenville With Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quinn Then Hudson Theatre New York City 8 May 1961 with Olivier and Arthur Kennedy The Rehearsal Royale Theatre New York City 23 September 1963 Directed by Peter Coe With Alan Badel Coral Browne Keith Michell Jennifer Hilary Traveller Without Luggage ANTA Playhouse New York City 17 September 1964 Directed by Robert Lewis With Ben Gazzara Mildred Dunnock Poor Bitos Cort Theatre New York City 14 November 1964 Directed by Shirley Butler With Donald Pleasence Charles Gray Antigone American Shakespeare Festival Theatre Stratford Connecticut 18 June 1967 Directed by Jerome Kilty With Maria Tucci Morris Carnovsky Tom Aldredge The Orchestra Academy Playhouse Lake Forest Illinois summer 1973 Directed by Jose Quintero The Waltz of the Toreadors Circle in the Square Theatre New York City 13 September 1973 Directed by Brian Murray With Eli Wallach Anne Jackson Diana Van der Vlis Ben Masters Ring Round the Moon Ahmanson Theatre Los Angeles 27 March 1975 Directed by Joseph Hardy With Michael York Kitty Winn Glynis Johns Kurt Kasznar Rosemary Murphy The Waltz of the Toreadors Union Square Theatre off Broadway 25 September 1985 Directed by Richard Russell Ramos With Lee Richardson Tammy Grimes Carole Shelley Alvin Epstein The Rehearsal Criterion Center Stage Right New York City 21 November 1996 Directed by Nicholas Martin With Roger Rees Frances Conroy David Threlfall Anna Gunn Ring Round the Moon Belasco Theatre New York City 28 April 1999 Directed by Gerald Gutierrez With Toby Stephens Gretchen Egolf Marian Seldes Fritz Weaver Joyce Van Patten Selected film credits Edit Les Degourdis de la onzieme by Jean Anouilh et al 1936 Vous n avez rien a declarer by Jean Anouilh et al 1937 La Citadelle du silence by Jean Anouilh et al Imperial Film 1937 Les Otages by Jean Anouilh et al Nero Film AG 1938 Calvacade d amour by Jean Anouilh and Jean Aurenche Pressburger Films 1940 Marie Martine by Jean Anouilh uncredited and Jacques Viot Eclair Journal 1943 Le Voyageur sans bagage by Jean Anouilh and Jean Aurenche based on Anouilh s play Also directed by Anouilh Eclair Journal 1944 Monsieur Vincent by Jean Anouilh Jean Bernard Luc and Maurice Cloche EDIC Union Generale Cinematographique 1947 Anna Karenina by Jean Anouilh Guy Morgan and Julien Duvivier London Film Productions 1948 White Paws by Jean Anouilh and Jean Bernard Luc Majestic Films 1949 Caroline cherie by Jean Anouilh and Cecil Saint Laurent Cinephonic Gaumont 1950 Two Pennies Worth of Violets by Monelle Valentin and uncredited Jean Anouilh Also directed by Anouilh Gaumont 1951 Le Rideau rouge by Jean Anouilh and Andre Barsacq Gaumont 1952 Monsoon Screenplay by Forest Judd David Robinson and Leonardo Bercovici based on the Anouilh play Romeo et Jeannette CFG Productions Film Group Judd 1952 A Caprice of Darling Caroline by Jean Anouilh and Cecil Saint Laurent Cinephonic 1953 Le Chevalier de la nuit by Jean Anouilh and Robert Darene Telenet Film 1954 La Mort de Belle by Jean Anouilh after Georges Simenon Cinephonic Odeon 1961 Waltz of the Toreadors Screenplay by Wolf Mankowitz from the play by Jean Anouilh With Peter Sellers Dany Robin Margaret Leighton Cyril Cusack Independent Artists 1962 Becket Screenplay by Edward Anhalt from the play by Jean Anouilh With Peter O Toole Richard Burton John Gielgud Hal Wallis Productions 1964 La Ronde by Jean Anouilh after Arthur Schnitzler Interopa Film Paris Film Productions Societe Nouvelle Pathe Cinema 1964 Piege pour Cendrillon by Jean Anouilh and Andre Cayatte after Sebastien Japrisot Gaumont International Jolly Film 1965 A Time for Loving by Jean Anouilh London Screenplays 1971 O ra tkbilia ganshorebis es nazi sevda Oh How Sweet is This Tender Sadness on Parting Screenplay by Keti Dolidze based on the Anouilh play Eurydice Georgian Film 1991 Vous n avez encore rien vu You Ain t Seen Nothin Yet Screenplay by Alain Resnais and Laurent Herbiet based on the Anouilh plays Eurydice and Cher Antoine ou l Amour rate F Comme Film 2012 Selected television productions Edit The Lark by Jean Anouilh translated from L Alouette BBC Saturday Night Theatre 1956 Le Jeune Homme et le lion 1976 Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut Hungarian TV Telecip 1978 La Belle vie 1979 Le Diable amoureux by Jean Anouilh et al Bayerischer Rundfunk France2 Radiotelevisao Portuguesa Telmondis Westdeutscher Rundfunk 1991 Published plays Edit Y avait un prisonnier Paris L Illustration 1935 Le Voyageur sans bagage Paris L Illustration 1937 translated by John Whiting as Traveler without Luggage London Methuen 1959 Les Bal des voleurs Paris Fayard 1938 Antigone Paris Didier 1942 translated by Lewis Galantiere as Antigone New York Random House 1946 Pieces roses Paris Calmann Levy 1942 comprises Le Bal des voleurs Le Rendez vous de Senlis and Leocadia Le Bal des voleurs translated by Lucienne Hill as Thieves Carnival London Methuen 1952 Le Rendez vous de Senlis translated by Edwin O Marsh as Dinner with the Family London Methuen 1958 Leocadia translated by Patricia Moyes as Time Remembered London S French 1954 Pieces noires Paris Calmann Levy 1942 comprises L Hermine La Sauvage Le Voyageur sans bagage and Eurydice L Hermine translated by Miriam John as The Ermine in Jean Anouilh Plays volume 1 New York Hill amp Wang 1958 La Sauvage translated by Hill as Restless Heart London Methuen 1957 Eurydice translated by Kitty Black as Point of Departure London S French 1951 republished as Legend of Lovers New York Coward McCann 1952 Nouvelles pieces noires Paris La Table Ronde 1946 comprises Jezabel Antigone Romeo et Jeannette and Medee Romeo et Jeannette translated by John as Romeo and Jeannette in Jean Anouilh Plays volume 1 New York Hill amp Wang 1958 Medee translated in The Modern Theatre volume 5 edited by Eric Bentley Garden City N Y Doubleday 1957 Pieces brillantes Paris La Table Ronde 1951 comprises L Invitation au chateau Colombe La Repetition ou L Amour puni and Cecile ou L Ecole des peres L Invitation au chateau translated by Christopher Fry as Ring round the Moon London Methuen 1950 Colombe translated by Louis Kronenberger as Mademoiselle Colombe New York Coward McCann 1954 L Alouette Paris La Table Ronde 1953 translated by Fry as The Lark London Methuen 1955 Pieces grincantes Paris La Table ronde 1956 comprises Ardele ou La Marguerite La Valse des Toreadors Ornifle ou Le Courant d air and Pauvre Bitos ou Le Diner de tetes Ardele ou La Marguerite translated by Hill as Ardele London Methuen 1951 La Valse des Toreadors translated by Hill as Waltz of the Toreadors London Elek 1953 New York Coward McCann 1953 Ornifle ou Le Courant d airtranslated by Hill asIt s Later Than You Think Chicago Dramatic 1970 Pauvre Bitos ou Le diner de tetes translated by Hill as Poor Bitos London Methuen 1956 Humulus le muet with Jean Aurenche Grenoble Francaises Nouvelles 1958 Becket ou L Honneur de Dieu Paris La Table Ronde 1959 translated by Hill as Becket or The Honor of God New York Coward McCann 1960 La Petite Moliere Paris L Avant Scene 1959 L Hurluberlu ou Le Reactionnaire amoureux Paris La Table Ronde 1959 translated by Hill as The Fighting Cock London Methuen 1967 Madame de translated by Whiting London S French 1959 Le Songe du critique edited by Richard Fenzl Dortmund Lensing 1960 La Foire d empoigne Paris La Table Ronde 1960 translated by Anouilh and Roland Pietri as Catch as Catch Can in Jean Anouilh Plays volume 3 New York Hill amp Wang 1967 La Grotte Paris La Table Ronde 1961 translated by Hill as The Cavern New York Hill amp Wang 1966 Fables Paris La Table Ronde 1962 Le Boulanger la boulangere et le petit mitron Paris La Table Ronde 1969 Cher Antoine ou L Amour rate Paris La Table Ronde 1969 translated by Hill as Dear Antoine or The Love That Failed New York Hill amp Wang 1971 London Eyre Methuen 1971 Les Poissons rouges ou Mon Pere ce heros Paris La Table Ronde 1970 Ne Reveillez pas Madame Paris La Table Ronde 1970 Nouvelles Pieces grincantes Paris La Table Ronde 1970 includes L Hurluberlu ou Le Reactionnaire amoureux La Grotte L Orchestre Le Boulanger la boulangere et le petit mitron and Les Poissons rouges ou Mon Pere ce heros L Orchestre translated by John as The Orchestra in Jean Anouilh Plays volume 3 New York Hill amp Wang 1967 Tu etais si gentil quand tu etais petit Paris La Table Ronde 1972 Le Directeur de l opera Paris La Table Ronde 1972 translated by Hill as The Director of the Opera London Eyre Methuen 1973 L Arrestation Paris La Table Ronde 1975 translated by Hill as The Arrest New York S French 1978 Le Scenario Paris La Table Ronde 1976 Chers Zoiseaux Paris La Table Ronde 1977 La Culotte Paris La Table Ronde 1978 La Belle vie suivi de Episode de la vie d un auteur Paris La Table Ronde 1980 Le Nombril Paris La Table Ronde 1981 translated by Michael Frayn as Number One London amp New York S French 1985 Oedipe ou Le Roi boiteux d apres Sophocle Paris La Table Ronde 1986 La Vicomtesse d Eristal n a pas recu son balai mecanique Souvenirs d un jeune homme Paris La Table Ronde 1987 English language anthologies Edit Jean Anouilh Plays translated by Lewis Galantiere et al 3 volumes New York Hill amp Wang 1958 1967 Collected Plays 2 volumes translated by Lucienne Hill et al London Methuen 1966 1967 Five Plays by Jean Anouilh introduction by Ned Chaillet translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker et al London Methuen 1987 Anouilh Plays Two introduction by Ned Chaillet translated by Jeremy Sams et al London Methuen 1997 Theory and criticism Edit En marge du theatre edited by Efrin Knight Paris La Table Ronde 2000 Le Dossier Moliere with Leon Thoorens et al Verviers Gerard 1964 Translations by Anouilh Edit William Shakespeare Trois comedies Comme il vous plaira La Nuit des rois Le Conte d hiver Three Comedies As You like It Twelfth Night and The Winter s Tale translated by Anouilh and Claude Vincent Paris La Table Ronde 1952 Graham Greene L Amant complaisant translated by Anouilh and Nicole Anouilh Paris Laffont 1962 Oscar Wilde Il est important d etre aime The Importance of Being Earnest translated by Anouilh and Nicole Anouilh Paris Papiers 1985 Other publications Edit Michel Marie Poulain by Anouilh Pierre Imbourg and Andre Warnod preface by Michel Mourre Paris Braun 1953 Le Loup ballet scenario by Anouilh and Georges Neveux music by Henri Dutilleux Paris Ricordi 1953 References Edit Not as often mispronounced French pronunciation anwi Norwich John Julius 1990 Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia Of The Arts USA Oxford University Press p 18 ISBN 978 0198691372 Smith Christopher Norman 1985 Jean Anouilh Life Work and Criticism London York Press ISBN 0 919966 42 X a b c d Rocchi Michel 2006 Mary Anne O Neil ed Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh inTwentieth Century French Dramatists Detroit Gale Biography in Context a b Liukkonen Petri Jean Anouilh Books and Writers kirjasto sci fi Finland Kuusankoski Public Library Archived from the original on 30 April 2007 Anouilh Caroline 1990 Drole de pere Paris M Lafon ISBN 2863913735 Falb Lewis W 1977 Jean Anouilh New York Ungar pp 10 12 Levi Anthony 1992 Guide to French Literature 1789 to the Present Vol 2 New York St James Press pp 20 25 Brockett Oscar Gross 1968 History of the Theatre Boston Allyn amp Bacon p 442 Pronko Leonard Cabell 1961 The World of Jean Anouilh Los Angeles University of California Press pp xix xxii Brockett History of the Theatre pp 458 485 a b c d e Carlson Marvin 1995 Jean Anouilh inReference Guide to World Literature New York St James Press Brockett History of the Theatre p 483 Kaplan Alice 2000 The Collaborator The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach Chicago IL University of Chicago Press ISBN 0 226 42414 6 Ginestier Paul 1969 Jean Anouilh Textes de Anouilh points de vue critique temoignages Paris Seghers Wiles David 2000 Politics inGreek Theatre Performance An Introduction Cambridge Cambridge University Press p 63 ISBN 0521648572 Krauss Kenneth 2004 The Drama of Fallen France Reading la Comedie sans Tickets Albany State University of New York Press pp 106 109 ISBN 0791459535 Smith Life Work and Criticism pp 24 26 a b Alison Flood 3 January 2013 Swedish Academy reopens controversy surrounding Steinbeck s Nobel prize The Guardian Retrieved January 3 2013 Pucciani Orestes 1954 The French Theatre Since 1930 Boston Ginn p 146 Grossvogel David I 1958 The Self conscious Stage in Modern French Drama New York Columbia University Press Qtd in Hotchman Stanley 1972 McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama McGraw Hill Porter Melinda Camber 1993 Through Parisian Eyes Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture Cambridge MA Da Capo pp 29 35 ISBN 0 306 80540 5 Liukkonen Petri and Ari Pesonen Jean Anouilh 1910 1987 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Missing or empty url help Jane Gross October 5 1987 Jean Anouilh the French Playwright Is Dead at 77 New York Times Retrieved 30 May 2022 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Jean Anouilh Works by or about Jean Anouilh at Internet Archive Jean Anouilh at the Internet Broadway Database Jean Anouilh at IMDb Jean Anouilh manuscripts General Collection Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Yale University Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jean Anouilh amp oldid 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