Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The description by Amazon is excellent.
Feydeau was a master of theatre, not only vaudeville (all of his plays) as the genre is called in France (not the same thing as american vaudeville).
The plays have more depth than modern farces by Ray Cooney.
It is more than farce, and it is certainly not, as french critics and directors like to say an ensemble of mechanical plots, with
farcical predictable characters.
One of the usual tricks, but expected, like a well known story must be enjoyed, is to have the character threatened by disclosure of an awkward action, see the entrance of a character who is supposed to be faraway, bedridden, unknown by the wife...
Adultery is not the aim of some characters in all the plays (for instance the Lady from Maxim's, the longest one, three hours performance). Feydeau is well known for his precise stage instructions, including the companies from which to rent or buy he props.
The plotting is worthy of a "who done it?" mystery.
Lies, misunderstandings are not just plot tricks. We find them in the great Marivaux.
Feydeau was also a master of the language and we can read the plays with equal pleasure, if not a greater pleasure. The translations are excellent.
Some of his one act plays are pure gems (no question of bedrooms)
In fact he is a master of french litterature as a whole, only surpassed in his domain, earlier by Labiche and Gondinet, and followed by Sacha Guitry (with his dreary historical lays), Jacque Deval and Louis Verneuil, and lesser but good writers
The vaudeville is stll alive as "théâtre de boulevard". Long may he live!
For the time being, enjoy!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Feydeau Plays: One: Heart's Desire Hotel, Sauce for the Goose, The One That Got Away, Now You See It, and Pig in a Poke (World Classics) (Vol 1)
Georges Feydeau (1862-1921) was the most successful French dramatist of the belle époque and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest of farce-writers. 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 commentary and allowed him to mention subjects that would have provoked outrage in the hands of more serious dramatists. This volume of new, sparkling translations by Kenneth McLeish contains his two masterpieces, Heart's Desire Hotel and Sauce for the Goose, with three other plays from the peak of his career, The One That Got Away, Now You See It, and Pig in a Poke.
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