The Apollo Of Bellac

by Maurice Valency

L'Apollon de Bellac est une pièce en un acte de Jean Giraudoux.

Genres: Plays, France

Paperback

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Maurice Valency was a playwright, author, critic, and popular professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University, best known for his award winning adaptations of plays by Jean Giraudoux and Friedrich Duerrenmatt. He wrote several original plays, but is best known for his adaptations of the plays of others.

He is also noted for his book The Flower and the Castle: An Introduction to Modern Drama. John Gassner in his review of this book said that Mr. Valency brought to his work "a lifetime of study and experience as well as a viewpoint both Olympian and engaged." Valency also wrote television plays, adaptations of librettos, novels, and academic works on Chekhov, Strindberg, Ibsen and Shaw.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A high concept one act play, but the concept is a doozy: Apollo, walking around as an average Joe, tells a young woman that all she needs to do to get everything she wants is to tell men they are beautiful. Since men never hear this (other than from their mothers or sisters, which doesn’t count), they are bowled over when she does it. At first, they assume she is just saying it to manipulate them (100% correct!), but once she claims she is in earnest, the men immediately become more cheerful … and give her whatever she wants.

Is it really that easy to manipulate men? Yep.

Why? Because it’s based on a universal truth: no one ever really tells men they are attractive or beautiful (movie stars aside). It’s not even something that the average joe expects to hear because they have been conditioned to think they aren’t to be viewed in those terms.

Being conditioned to think you aren't beautiful – or even that you are never to be discussed in those terms – turns out to be just a rotten as being defined by one's beauty alone.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Agnes' speech to the chandelier, and also the line, "You have injured this man. How could you expect him to be handsome in an environment that screamed at him constantly that he was ugly?"