Las Meninas

by Lynn Nottage

LAS MENINAS is the true story of the illicit romance between Queen Marie-Therese (wife of Louis XIV) and her African servant, Nabo, a dwarf from Dahomey, and the hilarious consequences that scandalized the French court.

Genres: Plays

72 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

About the author

Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of marginalized people. She is a professor of Playwriting at Columbia University. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice; the first in 2009 for Ruined, and the second in 2017 for Sweat.

Reviews

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I couldn’t quite explain why I picked up Las Meninas from the library shelf this week. Sure, I’d seen a production of this relatively obscure play 20 years ago at my college; I’m a fan of historical fiction; I’d read and enjoyed another Lynn Nottage play a few months ago. And then, a few pages in, it hit me: I’m spending the next several weeks leading a workshop production of my new translation of Victor Hugo’s Le Roi s'amuse , a play about a physically deformed jester in the corrupt French court of King François I in the 1520s. And Las Meninas is about a physically deformed jester in the corrupt French court of King Louis XIV in the 1660s.

Triboulet, in Hugo’s play, is a hunchback; Nabo Sensugali, in Nottage’s, is a dwarf. In addition, he’s Black, a West African sold to slave traders and passed around the courts of Europe as a curiosity. (This also means that the role of Nabo presents a casting challenge, and the script doesn’t list possible alternative solutions. Though at my college, he was played by a Black man of average height who knelt the whole time.) Nabo arrives at Louis’ court as a gift to Queen Marie-Thérèse, Louis’ bored, lonely, and spoiled Spanish wife. Despite their inherent differences and the Queen’s prejudices, Nabo and the Queen form a bond… one so close that the story is narrated, 30 years later, by a mixed-race novice nun named Louise.

This is a juicy and thematically complex story, but something about Nottage’s handling of it falls flat. I wish she’d leaned into the melodrama and historical romance of it all, and had been able to make me believe that there was a genuine, epic love between the Queen and Nabo—but the Queen remains too shallow and silly for that. Meanwhile, Nabo is intelligent and remarkably good-humored considering his circumstances—so he’s a likable character, but I don’t know if he’s a believable one. (In contrast, Hugo’s characterization of Triboulet feels more real and human to me because he’s allowed to express anger and bitterness.) Nabo, the Queen, and Louise are all victims of circumstance and the cruel strictures of the Sun King’s court; I didn’t find much deeper meaning in their stories beyond that.

Best moment: Louise, in a bathtub, is narrating the story of her own birth, and there’s this stage direction: With one final scream the Queen’s cries are drowned out by the sound of a baby crying. Louise, soaking wet, suddenly rises in the tub.

[Cary S · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one didn't quite do it for me. Lots of bawdy humor and dialogue lacking in Lynn Nottage's typically lyric subtext.

[Margery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would love to see a production of this quirky drama! I've read many Lynn Nottage scripts and this is by far the most unusual.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite Nottage, the dialogue a little convoluted for my taste but a really good little plot and full of arresting visuals. Would watch a production in a heartbeat.