Word: anouilh
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Jean Anouilh burst forth in the 1930's as the bright young man of French theatre. His Thieves' Carnival (Le bal des voleurs), written in 1932 when he was only 22 years old, is currently the second offering of the Boston Summer Theatre Festival, and a welcome...
Recently back into prominence in America with The Lark and Waltz of the Toreadors, Anouilh divides his output into four classes--pieces roses (rosy, pleasant plays), pieces noires (sombre, unpleasant plays), pieces brillantes (shining plays), andpieces grincantes (grating plays). Thieves' Carnival is a piece rose, a delightful comedy of wit and frolic. But even here, every once in a while little undertones of sadness poke through the surface...
...Anouilh has conceived of his main characters in pairs, which balance off against each other in perfect classical symmetry. There is the rich, middle-aged Lady Hurf and the poor, middle-aged master thief Peterbono, each constantly trying to outwit the other. There are the two young nieces and the two young apprentice thieves; the gay niece pursues the sad thief and is repulsed, while the gay thief pursues the sad niece and is repulsed. Elderly Lord Edgard wants peace and quiet; the youthful musician thrives on sound and activity. There are Dupont-Dufort pere and fils, who always dress...
...Warren Enters, who directed it a few seasons back for its highly successful off-Broadway run. He is inventive and clearly knows what he is about, abetted by Jack Brown's serviceable sets and Al Petruccelli's effective lighting. On opening night, some of the bubbles had escaped from Anouilh's effervescent champagne; but by now the performance should be consistently heady...
Until last week Lillian Hellman's adaptation of Jean Anouilh's The Lark was chiefly a Broadway bird. In Hallmark Hall of Fame's skillful TV version, wispy Actress Julie Harris embraced the difficult role of St. Joan like the old friend it has been and, in striking closeup, breathed her special humor and humanity into a rare historic abstraction. As the play opens, Joan is seated on a crude stool, her head bowed, before her judges. In a series of subtly conceived flashbacks, she plays out her great scenes: from the meeting with...