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[Playscript]: Mademoiselle Colombe: A New Musical
A dark, ironic comedy about the theatre that gets battered by the translation of Louis Kronenberger, whose style is Brooklyn rather than Bordeau. A new translation is desperately needed by Stoppard, Durang or Guare.
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First published January 1, 1951
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About the author
Jean Anouilh
306 books163 followersWorks, such as
Antigone
(1944), of French playwright Jean Anouilh juxtapose harsh reality and fantasy.
A Basque family bore Anouilh in Cérisole, a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux. From his father, a tailor, Anouilh maintained that he inherited a dignity in conscientious craftsmanship. He may owe his artistic bent to his mother, a violinist, whose summer seasons in the casino orchestra in the nearby seaside resort of Arcachon supplemented the meager income of the family.
He attended école primaire supérieure and received his secondary education at the Collège Chaptal. Jean-Louis Barrault, a pupil at the same time and later a major director, recalls Anouilh as an intense, rather dandified figure, who hardly noticed a boy some two years younger. Anouilh enrolled as a law student in the University of Paris but after just eighteen months then found employment in the advertising industry and abandoned the course. He spoke more than once with wry approval of the lessons in the classical virtues of brevity and precision of language he learned while drafting copy.
He followed his first unsuccessful l’Hermine in 1929 with a string. He struggled through years of poverty and produced several dramas until he eventually wound as secretary to the great actor-director Louis Jouvet. He quickly discovered inability to get with this gruff man and left his company. During the Nazi occupation, Anouilh not openly took sides, but people often view his most famous publication. He criticizes collaboration with the Nazis in an allegorical manner. Mostly keeping aloof from politics, Anouilh also clashed with Charles de Gaulle in the 1950s.
In 1964, people made Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu (Becket or The Honor of God) into a successful film, starring Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton. Edward Anhalt adapted and won an Academy Award for his screen.
Anouilh grouped on the basis of dominant tone: "black" tragedies, dominant "pink," "brilliant" combined in aristocratic environments, "jarring" with bitter humor, "costumed" historical characters feature, "baroque," and my failures.
In 1970, the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca recognized him.
A Basque family bore Anouilh in Cérisole, a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux. From his father, a tailor, Anouilh maintained that he inherited a dignity in conscientious craftsmanship. He may owe his artistic bent to his mother, a violinist, whose summer seasons in the casino orchestra in the nearby seaside resort of Arcachon supplemented the meager income of the family.
He attended école primaire supérieure and received his secondary education at the Collège Chaptal. Jean-Louis Barrault, a pupil at the same time and later a major director, recalls Anouilh as an intense, rather dandified figure, who hardly noticed a boy some two years younger. Anouilh enrolled as a law student in the University of Paris but after just eighteen months then found employment in the advertising industry and abandoned the course. He spoke more than once with wry approval of the lessons in the classical virtues of brevity and precision of language he learned while drafting copy.
He followed his first unsuccessful l’Hermine in 1929 with a string. He struggled through years of poverty and produced several dramas until he eventually wound as secretary to the great actor-director Louis Jouvet. He quickly discovered inability to get with this gruff man and left his company. During the Nazi occupation, Anouilh not openly took sides, but people often view his most famous publication. He criticizes collaboration with the Nazis in an allegorical manner. Mostly keeping aloof from politics, Anouilh also clashed with Charles de Gaulle in the 1950s.
In 1964, people made Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu (Becket or The Honor of God) into a successful film, starring Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton. Edward Anhalt adapted and won an Academy Award for his screen.
Anouilh grouped on the basis of dominant tone: "black" tragedies, dominant "pink," "brilliant" combined in aristocratic environments, "jarring" with bitter humor, "costumed" historical characters feature, "baroque," and my failures.
In 1970, the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca recognized him.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 31, 2024
Love: "What is this mania to love someone all one's life? Why should we?" ~ Bravo, M. Anouilh. ~ The play has the potential to be wonderful. The US (Bwy) translation is a bore.
An artificial comedy abt the theatre and sex : Anouilh examines a doltish husband whose insipid young wife joins his mum's theatre company in Paris and instantly finds economic and sexual independence. The characters are all one-dimensional, but Anouilh's heart is in its perfect cynical place. The French theatre has no try-out towns, like Limoges or Bordeaux as NYC has Boston and DC. So, this play needs to be reshaped. Rewrite the young husband, diminish his ingenue wife, and showcase the flamboyant actress mum.
Where is Louis Kronenberger, longtime theatre critic of TIME, who did the translation? He would take a line like 'la plume de ma tante,' for ex, and come up with 'the pen of my aunt.' The French word 'merde' has a musicality. He vulgarizes it as "crap." This boorish man wrecks the play in English (1954). Let's have a new adaptation by someone like Tom Stoppard. This ironic comedy is a patisserie. Kronenberger's writing belongs on a delicatessen menu..and director Harold Clurman is out of his element.
The play is in desperate need of a new translation/adaptation.
An artificial comedy abt the theatre and sex : Anouilh examines a doltish husband whose insipid young wife joins his mum's theatre company in Paris and instantly finds economic and sexual independence. The characters are all one-dimensional, but Anouilh's heart is in its perfect cynical place. The French theatre has no try-out towns, like Limoges or Bordeaux as NYC has Boston and DC. So, this play needs to be reshaped. Rewrite the young husband, diminish his ingenue wife, and showcase the flamboyant actress mum.
Where is Louis Kronenberger, longtime theatre critic of TIME, who did the translation? He would take a line like 'la plume de ma tante,' for ex, and come up with 'the pen of my aunt.' The French word 'merde' has a musicality. He vulgarizes it as "crap." This boorish man wrecks the play in English (1954). Let's have a new adaptation by someone like Tom Stoppard. This ironic comedy is a patisserie. Kronenberger's writing belongs on a delicatessen menu..and director Harold Clurman is out of his element.
The play is in desperate need of a new translation/adaptation.
May 27, 2019
Read in french.
I generally struggle with plays so it wasn't exactly a surprise when I struggled with this one as well, however the character of Colombe was pretty interesting and charismatic in the third and fourth act, and Jean Anouilh's writing is always amazing.
I generally struggle with plays so it wasn't exactly a surprise when I struggled with this one as well, however the character of Colombe was pretty interesting and charismatic in the third and fourth act, and Jean Anouilh's writing is always amazing.
October 6, 2025
Les cacas sont beaux? Le caca c'est tout l'enfant.
Un enfant qui a de beaux cacas, c'est un enfant qui profite.
Un enfant qui a de beaux cacas, c'est un enfant qui profite.
June 13, 2018
Through this simple play with a minimalistic plot and decor, Anouilh explores the clash between the extremes of our society: introverts and extroverts, fame and passivity, silence and pride, to make us think about the consequences of fame and media that's slowly consuming us and formatting our minds.
February 15, 2025
Jolie pièce moderne qui dépeint des enjeux encore contemporains et touchant les mœurs féminines, ce qui est acceptable ou non, ce qui est supportable ou non. La pièce fait réfléchir mais le dénouement est à mon sens un peu faible.
November 6, 2021
I can't wait to play this modern and funny character!
July 8, 2022
colombe girlbossed her way through this play. we stan. (sidenote: all the men in this book absolutely repulsed me)
June 22, 2023
Colombe you go girl
July 14, 2025
3,5/5
Colombe ma star, à bas les hommes (en plus comme on a le même prénom je me sentais trop connectée à elle, bref girlboss)
Colombe ma star, à bas les hommes (en plus comme on a le même prénom je me sentais trop connectée à elle, bref girlboss)
September 6, 2019
Mais qu'est-ce que c'est que cette manie de vouloir que ce soit pour la vie, l'amour? Pourquoi cela vous démange-t-il comme cela, l'éternité? Qu'est-ce que cela signifie d'abord: pour la vie? Les chapeaux, les chaussures, les bijoux, cela se change; les maisons on en déménage. Demande aux médecins, ils te diront qu'au bout de sept ans il n'y a pas une cellule de ton corps qui n'ait changé. On vieillit, on pourrit sur place, on mijote son petit cadavre à feu couvert toute sa vie pour qu'il soit fin prêt le jour où les vers s'y mettront; on se décompose depuis qu'on est né et tu voudrais qu'il n'y ait que les sentiments qui ne changent pas?
Que ça fait du bien de terminer quelque chose. J'ai cru que ma panne de lecture allait me bloquer indéfiniment -- Et quelle lecture!
C'est une longue pièce qui donne un grand coup à ce que l'on attend du théâtre, en utilisant des personnages qui vivent en dehors de la réalité, pour remettre le lecteur/spectateur, lui-même!, sur ses pieds.
Se prendre des claques au théâtre, c'est plutôt rare. Il y a des pièces qui m'ont bouleversé, mais j'ai rarement lu une pièce comme celle-ci. Un mélange de grand bol d'air frais et de beaucoup de gêne. J'ai adoré.
C'est intéressant ; le théâtre dans la pièce -car les personnages sont des comédiens et/ou des costumiers, poètes, directeurs de théâtre etc-, est une véritable société à lui seul. Madame Alexandra tire la ficelle de son monde. Elle en est la cruelle impératrice, capricieuse, avare, égoïste, et est à la fois admirée et détestée.
Madame Alexandra a mis en scène toute sa vie personnelle, afin de donner quelque chose qui puisse plaire au public, au détriment de Julien. Il a beaucoup souffert et il ne méritait pas cette mère.
Tout est faux autour d'elle. Les flatteries qu'elle reçoit sont fausses, même celles qui viennent de son propre fils, Armand. Tout le monde joue la comédie dans cette pièce, ce qui la rend encore plus intéressante. Les personnages de cette pièce de théâtre jouent la comédie entre eux, en se mentant, en étant hypocrite, jaloux, lâches, et jouent un drame lorsqu'ils sont sur scène.
Et c'est drôle que Colombe se soit trouvée, et ait trouvé la véritable "elle" dans ce milieu.
September 25, 2007
کلمب به فارسی ترجمه شده و یک بار هم در تالار موزه توسط جمعی از تیاتری های حرفه ای روی صحنه آمده است. با این همه تردید دارم که بصورت یک کتاب هم منتشر شده باشد.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews