George Feydeau – författare

Georges Feydeau, master of farce, displays all his tricks of the trade in this witty, seamless and acutely funny translation. An Absolute Turkey was a West End hit following its London premiere at the Globe Theatre in 1993.“Sharp, natty, decorously indecent dialogue” - Sunday Times

‘My dear fellow. Dreadfully sorry. I’ll be marrying your wife.’A charming politician and his glamorous new wife evoke a picture of marital bliss. Her first husband was a liar and a cheat. Her second is a different batch of chromosomes altogether. Not only is he chairman of the Feminist Forum but he clearly adores her. He says so, repeatedly, usually on Thursday nights when he goes out to ‘stretch his legs’. Her suspicions are obviously hormonal. But when he resorts to illusion to maintain the delusion, well, there’s a lot of confusion. If experience has taught her anything it’s the need to fight fire with fire, lies with more lies and every last trick with pure magic…A comic marvel from the master of French farce, Georges Feydeau, Every Last Trick is an ingenious look at the game of infidelity and marriage, given fresh life by Tamsin Oglesby.

‘My dear fellow. Dreadfully sorry. I’ll be marrying your wife.’A charming politician and his glamorous new wife evoke a picture of marital bliss. Her first husband was a liar and a cheat. Her second is a different batch of chromosomes altogether. Not only is he chairman of the Feminist Forum but he clearly adores her. He says so, repeatedly, usually on Thursday nights when he goes out to ‘stretch his legs’. Her suspicions are obviously hormonal. But when he resorts to illusion to maintain the delusion, well, there’s a lot of confusion. If experience has taught her anything it’s the need to fight fire with fire, lies with more lies and every last trick with pure magic…A comic marvel from the master of French farce, Georges Feydeau, Every Last Trick is an ingenious look at the game of infidelity and marriage, given fresh life by Tamsin Oglesby.

"Georges Feydeau, once considered as purveyor of slapstick farces, is now accepted as France's best comic dramatist since Moliere. He once said that to make people laugh you have to place your cast in a dramatic situation and then observe them from a comic angle, but they must never do or say anything which is not strictly demanded, first by their character and secondly by the plot. This collection of farces includes the plays Fitting for Ladies, A Close Shave and Sauce for the Goose, all translated by Peter Meyer. In Fitting for Ladies, a man on the look-out for a new romantic rendezvous is mistaken for a dressmaker...In A Close Shave, a woman's would-be lover has to assume the identity of her artist husband, who is about to be called up for military service. In Sauce for the Goose, a man discovers that the woman he is pursuing is the wife of an old friend..."

Eccentric and hillarious, Georges Feydeau's much loved comedy mixes madness, mayhem, fun and frivolity. When the beautiful wife of Victor Chandebise suspects of having an affair, she enlists the help of her dearest friend to entrap him. Their plan to entice him to a rendezvous at the Hotel Coq D'or spectacularly misfires and chaos ensues. Set in the decadent surroundings of Belle Epoque Paris, Feydeau's quintessential farce promises to be an exhilerating even of mistaken identities and comic disaster.

Original illustrations by Jean Cocteau and Andrzej KlimowskiTwo of the seven monologues by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) in this edition were written for Édith Piaf. The other five were written for Cocteau’s friend, the celebrated actor Jean Marais, to perform on radio. Although perhaps a minor part of Cocteau’s output of films, plays, poems and ballet scenarios, these exquisite miniatures remain a fascinating form of his dramatic expression.Georges Feydeau (1862-1921) is best known for his enduring farces, such as A Flea In Her Ear, yet he wrote over 20 monologues for actors to perform at charity concerts and in fashionable drawing rooms. The six included in this volume were written over a period of 16 years from 1882.Peter Meyer’s translations of eleven of these monologues were commissioned by the BBC and performed on radio by leading actors including Eileen Atkins, Jill Bennett, Richard Briers, Judi Dench, Alec McCowan and Timothy West. The Liar and I Lost Her have been newly translated for this volume.

Georges Feydeau, master of farce, displays all his tricks of the trade in this witty, seamless and acutely funny translation. An Absolute Turkey was a West End hit following its London premiere at the Globe Theatre in 1993.“Sharp, natty, decorously indecent dialogue” - Sunday Times

Eccentric and hillarious, Georges Feydeau’s much loved comedy mixes madness, mayhem, fun and frivolity. When the beautiful wife of Victor Chandebise suspects of having an affair, she enlists the help of her dearest friend to entrap him. Their plan to entice him to a rendezvous at the Hotel Coq D'or spectacularly misfires and chaos ensues. Set in the decadent surroundings of Belle Époque Paris, Feydeau's quintessential farce promises to be an exhilerating even of mistaken identities and comic disaster.

Original illustrations by Jean Cocteau and Andrzej KlimowskiTwo of the seven monologues by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) in this edition were written for Édith Piaf. The other five were written for Cocteau’s friend, the celebrated actor Jean Marais, to perform on radio. Although perhaps a minor part of Cocteau’s output of films, plays, poems and ballet scenarios, these exquisite miniatures remain a fascinating form of his dramatic expression.Georges Feydeau (1862-1921) is best known for his enduring farces, such as A Flea In Her Ear, yet he wrote over 20 monologues for actors to perform at charity concerts and in fashionable drawing rooms. The six included in this volume were written over a period of 16 years from 1882.Peter Meyer’s translations of eleven of these monologues were commissioned by the BBC and performed on radio by leading actors including Eileen Atkins, Jill Bennett, Richard Briers, Judi Dench, Alec McCowan and Timothy West. The Liar and I Lost Her have been newly translated for this volume.