Georges Feydeau - Feydeau Plays: 2

Georges Feydeau Plays: TwoThe Girl From Maxims, Shes All Yours, Jailbird Feydeau was the most successful French dramatist of the belle poque and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest of farce-writers and a worthy successor to Molire and Labiche. His series of dazzling hits matched high-speed action and dialogue with ingenious plotting. Reaching the heights of farcical lunacy, his plays nevertheless contain touches of barbed social comment and allowed him to mention subjects which would have provoked outrage in the hands of more serious dramatists. This volume of new, sparkling translations by Kenneth McLeish contains two plays from the peak of his career, The Girl from Maxims, perhaps his best known, and Shes All Yours (La Main passe), together with an early work, Jailbird (Gibier de potence). Georges Feydeau was born in Paris in 1862, the son of the novelist Ernest Feydeau. His first one-act play, Love and Piano, was performed when he was 18 and he had his first success with Tailleur pour dames in 1887, when he also married an heiress.

Among his many plays his best known are perhaps Le Systme Ribadier (1892), Monsieur chasse! (1892), Un Fil la patte (1894), LHtel du libre change (1894), Le Dindon (1896), La Dame de chez Maxim (1899), La Puce loreille (1907), Occupe-toi dAmlie (1908), and On purge bb (1910). He contracted syphilis and was committed to an asylum in 1919 and died in 1921. by the same author FEYDEAU PLAYS: ONE (Hearts Desire Hotel, Sauce for the Goose, The One That Got Away, Now You See It, Pig in a Poke) Contents

1862	Born in Paris, December 8
1874	Death of father, Ernest
18719	Attended boarding schools
1879	Joined a law firm as clerk
1880	Began to write and recite monologues
1881	Par la fentre (Through the Window), first play to be professionally performed, produced by Rosendal
1883	Amour et piano (Love and Piano), Thtre de lAthne Took post as secretary to Thtre de la Renaissance
18834	Military service
1884	Gibier de potence (Jailbird), produced by Le Cercle Volney
1887	Tailleur pour dames (Tailor to the Ladies), Thtre de la Renaissance his first hit
La Lycenne (The Schoolgirl), Thtre des Nouveauts
1888	Un Bain de mnage (A Household Bath), Thtre de la Renaissance
Chat en poche (Pig in a Poke), Thtre Djazet
Les Fiancs de Loches (The Fiancs of Loches), Thtre Cluny
1889	Married Marianne Duran
LAffaire Edouard (The Edward Affair), Thtre des Varits
1890	Le Manage de Barillon (Barillons Marriage), Thtre de la Renaissance
1892	Monsieur chasse! (The One That Got Away), Thtre du Palais-Royal
Champignol malgr lui (Champignonl in Spite of Himself), Thtre des Nouveauts
Le Systme Ribadier (Now You See It), Thtre du Palais-Royal
1894	Un Fil la patte (On a String), Thtre du Palais-Royal Le Ruban (The Ribbon), Thtre de lOdon
LHtel du libre change (Hearts Desire Hotel), Thtre des Nouveauts
1896	Le Dindon (Sauce for the Goose), Thtre du Palais-Royal
LesPavs de lours (A Little Bit To Fall Back On), Thtre Montpensier, Versailles
1897	Sance de nuit (Night Session), Thtre du Palais-Royal Dormez, je le veux! (Sleep, I insist!), Thtre de lEldorado
1899	La Dame de chez Maxim (The Girl From Maxims), Thtre des Nouveauts
1902	La Duchesse des Folies-Bergres (The Duchess From the Folies-Bergres), Thtre des Nouveauts
1904	La Main passe (Shes All Yours), Thtre des Nouveauts
1905	LAge dor (The Golden Age), Thtre des Varits
1906	Le Bourgeon (The Bud), Thtre du Vaudeville
1907	La Puce loreille (A Flea In Her Ear), Thtre des Nouveauts
1908	Occupe-toi dAmlie (Look after Lulu), Thtre des Nouveauts
Feu la mre de Madame (Madames Late Mother), Thtre de la Comdie Royale
1909	Moved into the Htel Terminus, where he lived until 1919
Le Circuit (The Circuit), Thtre des Varits
1910	On purge bb (Purging Baby), Thtre des Nouveauts
1911	Cent millions qui tombent (A Hundred Million Falling), Thtre des Nouveauts
Mais nte promne donc pas toute nue! (Dont Walk Around Naked!), Thtre Fmina
Lonie est en avance (Lonie Is Early), Thtre de la Comdie Royale
1913	On va faire la cocotte (Were going to play cocotte), Thtre Michel
1914	Divorced
Je ne trompe pas mon mari (Im Not Deceiving My Husband), Thtre de lAthne
1916	Suffered increasing bad health caused by syphilis Hortense a dit: Je men fous! (Hortense said: I dont care!),
Thtre du Palais-Royal
1919	Committed to a sanatorium by his family
1921	Died June 5

Feydeaus father, Ernest Feydeau, was a stockbroker and novelist, a friend of Baudelaire, Flaubert and the Goncourt brothers who mocked him in their Journals for an interest in ancient Egypt so passionate that it was a form of adultery with him. He died when his son was eleven, and his wife and her second husband (the drama critic Henri Gouquier) sent the boy to boarding school. At about this time young Feydeau first became fascinated by theatre, and like his near contemporary Alfred Jarry wrote skits and sketches to amuse his school friends. From 1883 Feydeau worked as secretary to the Renaissance Theatre, and his first full-length play, Tailleur pour dames (1887), had a successful run there when he was twenty-five.

At about the same time he met and married an heiress, and in 1892 he had a hit with Monsieur chasse! at the Palais-Royal, the theatre which had previously seen Labiches greatest triumphs. In the same year, Champignol malgr lui opened at the Nouveauts, and it and Tailleur pour dames each ran for more than 1000 performances. Feydeau went on to write more than two dozen plays, ranging from one-act sketches to historical spectaculars, and including the grands vaudevilles for which he is best known outside France: these range from Un Fil la patte in 1894 to his mature masterpieces LHtel du libre change, Le Dindon, La Dame de chez Maxim and La Puce loreille. Feydeaus public success was offset by private misery. He spent each afternoon writing or directing, each evening at the show and then at Maxims (where he had a table permanently reserved); he returned home at three or four in the morning, and began again at noon the next day. His wife shared none of his interests, and eventually asked him to leave.