In POT BOUILLE, the well-known French novelist Emile Zola and dramatist William Busnach combine their talents to unmask the hypocrisy that hides behind the facade of a respectable and fashionable Parisian apartment house. The Josserands are struggling to make ends meet, and at the same time to marry off their two daughters to prosperous businessmen. At the heart of this broken family is a weak husband and domineering, spendthrift wife, who between them create two willful children who are doomed to unhappy lives. The sly and adulterous Berthe seduces a shop owner into marriage, and Hortense eventually runs off with the man she loves--knowing he'll never marry her. The result is an unflattering portrayal of a corrupt, immoral society at the heart of French life in the late nineteenth century. Based on one of the great novels of modern literature

Four short French plays that resurrect tales by authors better known for their fiction. MADEMOISELLE FIFI, adapted by Oscar Metenier from a story by Guy de Maupassant, describes an incident during the German occupation of France after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. The officers of an isolated German regiment send to Rouen for prostitutes, but Lt. Wilhelm, better known as Mademoiselle Fifi, mistreats one of the girls, leading to a fatal confrontation. MEETING, adapted by Lucien Mayrargue from a story by Guy de Maupassant, tells of a sailor who returns home after ten years, only to have his savings stolen by the pimp of the girl he sleeps with. In JACQUES DAMOUR, by Emile Zola and Leon Hennique, a man believed dead returns home, only to find that his wife has remarried a prosperous butcher. Finally, in Emile Zola's opera libretto, LAZARUS is raised from the dead by Jesus, only to object to being brought back to life. Four great dramas dealing with life--and death

Emile Zola (1840-1902) was one of France's greatest novelists of the nineteenth century, being most famous as a writer for Nana (the story of a courtesan), and in the political world for his role in exposing the frame-up of Captain Dreyfus. However, he had limited success as a dramatist until he partnered with William Busnach, an Algerian Jew. This adaptation of the Zola novel of the same name is a powerful expose of life among the working poor, and the ravaging effects of alcholism on average, decent folk. If fact, what's most striking in this play is how human the workers are, certainly not the "animals" described by opponents of Zola's works. The destruction of a family is portrayed with clinical realism, but also with sympathy and understanding, as each of the characters gradually emerges as a sympathetic (or at least understandable) person in his or her own right. First-rate drama by a master writer

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Lord Jim tells the story of the Third Mate aboard the ship Patna. When the vessel is holed, Jim freezes and abandons his post, leaving the 800 passengers to their fate. But the ship does not sink, and although the ensuing inquest only strips Jim of his license, the imputation of cowardice is more than the man can bear. He settles in an Asian backwater state and eventually comes to grips with his past, being driven to acts of apparent heroism to prove his worth to others--and especially to himself. But to Conrad, Jim's sacrifice merely proves that he really was a coward after all. First-rate drama

Based on Zola's 1867 novel, and dramatized by the author in 1873, this play is almost a French version of the Russian novel, Crime and Punishment. Therese and her lover, Laurent, decide to kill her likable but sickly husband, Camille (also her husband), and succeed in doing so without arousing any suspicion. The boating accident that ends Camille's life also makes Laurent a hero for rescuing Therese. The lovers remain apart for a year, until friends of the family suggest they marry. But both are remorseful and guilt-ridden. Finally, Therese's mother discovers the truth, but suffers a stroke and cannot speak. She just stares at them, and her presence drives the lovers down the path to destruction. A powerful and believable story that plays well even today.

Based on the bestselling novel by James Branch Cabell, Jurgen is a philosophical fantasy in the manner of Candide, which strings together the hero's sexual adventures into an ironic and satirical commentary on life and sex. During his travels through space and time, Jurgen encounters a number of different characters from history, and always manages to escape his follies, relying on his natural attractive charm to rescue him when nothing else works. The sexual innuendoes in the original novel were so strong that attempts were made to prevent the book's publication, and to ban it from circulation--but now his escapades just seem bitingly funny and entertaining. A sophisticated comedy for adults with a sharply-pointed stiletto of satire

Based on the classic novel by Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary tells the tale of Emma Bovary, who is romantic by nature, and believes herself the equal of the heroines depicted in the romantic novels she reads. When she moves to a rural town in France, she finds herself utterly bored by country and small-town life. Although her husband is a good man, Emma has no respect for him. Eventually she takes a lover, and wants him to give up everything for her, so they can run away together--but he fails to appear on the day set for their elopement. She then finds solace in the arms of a third man, but when this affair also collapses, she has nothing left to live for. A great tragedy of French life and customs, effectively dramatized by Gaston Baty

This forgotten masterpiece, based on the Dumas novel of the same name, is set during the period following The Three Musketeers. The author skillfully depicts the confusion and brutality of the burgeoning civil war between the French Court, represented by Cardinal Mazarin (the Prime Minister) and Queen Anne of Austria (the Regent) on one side, and the wives of the princes revolting against the Queen and her Prime Minister on the other. People change sides with bewildering speed. We see Cauvignac, brave but unscrupulous; Baron Canolles, a man of conscience; Nanon Lartigues, courtesan sister of Cauvignac and mistress of the Duke d'Epernon; and the cross-dressing Vicomtess, devoted supporter and agent of the Princess de Conde. No one depicts political intrigue better than Alexandre Dumas

This powerful play deals with the aftermath of French Emperor Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Russia in 1812, and the subsequent victory of the allied forces arrayed against him in 1814--a defeat that forced Napoleon into exile on the island of Elba. From Elba he returned to France for "The Hundred Days" revival of his monarchy in 1815, before finally being exiled to the South Atlantic. In the hands of Dumas, the Emperor is perhaps his most vivid fictional creation--more interesting and powerful than D'Artagnan, Edmond Dantes, or any of his other characters. How close this portrait resembles the historical man is for historians to decide--but the play's battle scenes are magnificent, the dramatic tension as the allied net closes around Napoleon builds to an almost unbearable level, and the drama is, in the end, great entertainment

Written in 1847, while Dumas was at the height of his powers, this play recounts the events leading up to the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre of the French Huguenots--and the subsequent death of King Charles IX. The playwright focuses on the people inadvertently caught up in the slaughter--which, once started, cannot be repressed. By following the fate of two nobles, the Catholic Count Coconnas and the Huguenot Count de la Mole, and linking their stories to Queen Marguerite (called Margot), wife in name only to the Huguenot King of Navarre (the future King Henry IV of France), Dumas reveals the terror and duplicity that the massacre incurred even at the highest levels of society--including the royal family. Despite its length, the story moves quickly and with great force. One of Dumas's best historical narratives

Young Louis XIV (La Jeunesse de Louis XIV) is generally considered by critics to be one of Dumas's best plays. This joyous romp through history focuses on Louis's seizure of power in 1658, and his romance with Marie de Mancini under the oak tree. As a portrait of a young king on the verge of greatness, there's nothing else like it except for Shakespeare's trilogy about Prince Hal (Henry IV, Parts I and II, and Henry V). But Louis is a more likable prince than Hal, and even though he doesn't have a Falstaff to play against, he demonstrates an innate nobility, plus a willingness to shock his aristocrats by lunching with Marie, and by getting along with people from all walks of life, including the flower girl Georgette. His weakness is his love for the ladies--all ladies This energetic and well-plotted drama will please theater-goers everywhere

In these three librettos, Philippe Quinault turns from classical opera to medieval legends--Renaud and Armida, Amadis and Oriana, and Angelica and Roland--exploring the tensions between love and glory. As usual, the dramatist relates his stories deftly with classic simplicity. In these adaptions of traditional medieval stories of romance, enchantment, monsters, and magic, either the heroine (Armida or Angelica) loves the hero she should hate, or the hero falls for an enemy enchantress, and has to be rescued from her clutches. The love "cure" is usually effected by means of magic or through the intervention of a fairy. Great entertainment from early French literature

Based on the riveting novel by Alexandre Dumas, Ten Years After, this is the bestselling author's final account of The Three Musketeers and their young recruit, D'Artagnan. In 1661 young Louis XIV is King of France. The Musketeers find themselves divided: Aramis (now secret head of the Jesuit Order) wants to replace Louis with his hidden twin brother, The Man in the Iron Mask. D'Artagnan, however, is the King's man and Captain of the Musketeers, and pledged to oppose any act against the throne. In the end, only one of the Musketeers can prevail. An exciting, action-filled drama of cutthroat politics

Dumas wrote and staged Henri III (1829) before Hugo weighed in with the more famous Hernani (1831). It was the opening salvo in the war between The Romantics and the Classicists. Dumas' play was less controversial and more successful than Hugo's play. Dumas' hero, Saint Megrin, a fiery opponent of the Duke of Guise and a favorite of Henry III is also in love with the Duke's wife. Saint Megrin's partiality for the King also has brought him into conflict with Henry's unscrupulous mother Catherine de Medici, who decides to rid herself of both Guise and Saint Megrin by fostering the thus-far Platonic relationship between the Duchess de Guise and her would be lover. This she manages with the aid of the Astrologer Ruggieri, and brings about the ruin of Saint Megrin. All set against the background of magic, superstition, and religious fanatacism preceding The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre. It also makes interesting reading when read against Dumas' later dramatization of his novel La Reine Margot (Queen Margot), also published by Borgo/Wildside.

This classic tale of political intrigue, murder, romance, and high drama is set during the weak reign of King Louis XIII of France. Cardinal Richelieu is gathering the reins of power into his cold, ruthless hands, aided by Milady de Winter and Rochefort. Opposing him are Queen Anne and the Three Musketeers--Athos, Porthos, and Aramis--together with the young D'Artagnan. One of the master's best works!

Paul de Kock and Adolphe Guenee present a humorous dramatic prequel to the well-known Alexandre Dumas tale of The Three Musketeers. The four would-be adventurers--D'Artagnan, Aramis, Porthos, and Athos--serendipitously encounter each other at an inn outside of Paris, the city where they're heading to escape their present situations and find their fortunes. They also meet there a beautiful noblewoman fleeing an unwanted marriage imposed on her by Cardinal Richelieu--and the girl's elderly husband, the lecherous Marquis. Back and forth across France they chase each other, seeking to rescue the woman's good name. While the drama can be intense at times, it's all in good fun, and ultimately, of course, everything works out for the best--with the four gentlemen earning their commissions as King's Musketeers

This Alexandre Dumas drama, penned just three years after the death of the great English Shakespearean actor, Edmund Kean (1787-1833), is filled with an immense joie de vivre, and is perhaps based on the playwright's own character. Kean, although an acknowledged player of great power and genius, led a very disordered personal life, associating with the lowlifes of the time, going on binges of alcohol and drugs, hobnobbing with royalty one minute and with mountebanks the next, brawling in a tavern or dining with diplomats. In the end, this fascinating, highly intelligent, likable, volatile, unstable, and passionate actor burned himself out, ruining his health and spirit, and collapsing on stage. One of Dumas's best plays, KEAN is filled with drama, humanity, and humor.

In 1828 a young man in rags appeared in the German city of Nurnberg, saying that he'd been kept isolated in a dungeon all of his life. Was he the bastard offshoot of some noble or royal family, secreted away to preserve the honor of the house? Within a few months he was dead under mysterious circumstances, his mystery still unsolved. CASPER HAUSER uses the uproar caused by Hauser's emergence to focus the white heat of the authors' indignation on the systematic maltreatment of individuals solely to spare the feelings of the rich and powerful elements of society. The anger of the playwrights permeates this straightforward, exceptionally powerful tale of a young man who never had a chance of living a normal life. The drama still plays well to a modern audience

THE LUCKY MAN is the story of a handsome, conceited young man who's the devil with the ladies. Cadwell flits from one woman to another, always in search of more adventures, always deceitful, never getting caught, always promising his love--and never giving anyone what he doesn't possess himself. This ultimate womanizer goes about blithely wrecking the lives of women (and their beaus) alike, until--until a cadre of his rejected lovers get together to trap him through his own ego. And even then...even then there are those who are willing to forgive him Cadwell and his loves are perfectly recognizable, even in the guise of 1683 characters--and this play is eminently enjoyable and presentable to modern audiences. A thoroughly entertaining comedic drama

Adapted by Alexandre Dumas from a script by Auguste Maquet, BATHILDA tells the story of a woman who's raped by Marcel, and becomes his lover for a time. After she leaves him and moves to Paris, she meets Deworde, her deceased spouse's nephew, and plans to marry him. But Marcel pursues her, determined that if he can't have her, no one else will either. He plays a cat-and-mouse game with Bathilda, Deworde, and his friend Guilaumin, until their final confrontation. Will Marcel have his bullying way? Or will Bathilda find some resolution to her seemingly impossible moral dilemma? A great early work by this major French writer