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

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

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.

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

Three French comedies of love and marriage. Charles Favart contributes two comic operas of considerable verve and humor. In THE DISGUISED LOVER, Julie pretends to be a man, and Clitandre pretends to be a peasant. But it's all in good fun, and while the play doesn't take itself seriously, all's well that ends well. RUSTIC AMOURS is a strange but effective blend of classical opera themes (shepherds and shepherdesses in love), combined with satire about Parisian fops and uncouth peasants--all of whom love the same beautiful shepherdess. Philippe Destouches' TRIPLE MARRIAGE is a beautifully-constructed one-act comedy about marriages that are--from the eighteenth-century high society's point-of-view--inappropriate. Old Matthews wants to marry again, but conceals his desire from his son and daughter, both of whom wish to marry as well--but not the rich old spouses their father has selected for them. Ultimately, the children take matters into their own hands. All three plays could easily be adapted to the modern stage, since their themes are universal.

Four French comedies by Jean-Francois Regnard (with Charles Dufresny), who's considered to be the best comic playwright of his age after Moliere. The sardonic and amusing THE TREE OF CHASTITY has a slight plot, but the double-entendres flying rapidly right and left keep the audience well-entertained. WAIT FOR ME UNDER THE ELM is another farce filled with verve aplenty. THE UNFORESEEN RETURN is a reworking of Plautus' Haunted House with a seventeenth-century setting. THE RIDICULOUS MERCHANT is another comedic romp. These bubbly, even obscene farces still hold up well today, with all of the characters and their situations eminently recognizable to modern audiences. Great dramatic fun

These eight short plays by Louis Carmontelle, Thomas Gueulette, Jan Potocki, and Russian Empress Catherine II the Great (of all people ) were all the rage in eighteenth-century France--short skits that could easily be performed by amateur companies. Since they weren't writing "literature," the authors of these pieces could create anything without adhering to the "dramatic rules." And invent they did Bawdy, even obscene humor permeates many of these works. All of them are wacky, anything-for-a-laugh comedies with little or no attention paid to logic, plots, or themes--just a series of zany, lewd, funny actions near enough to reality to be slightly discomfiting to the popular audiences who loved them. And they still remain as sidesplitting today as they were 200 years ago

Two comedies by a cousin of French King Louis XIV. THE SPIRIT OF CONTRADICTION is an hilarious play about a woman whose sole aim in life is to prevent others (mostly in her own family) from getting their way. So contrary is she to anything that's suggested to her that her husband, daughter, and in-laws must conceal, as best they can, their real wishes. But she knows they know--and this creates absolutely side-splitting situations. This extremely popular comedy had more performances by the Comedie Francaise through 1900 than other play in its repertoire. THE DOUBLE WIDOWING is based on a similar premise: a husband and wife hate each other (and are too hypocritical to say so), but are drawn to their niece and nephew, respectively. This attraction is not reciprocated by the young people, who are in love with each other, but lack the money to marry. The youngsters have to work through a charade to convince their elders to back their union. Two brilliantly funny plays that still hold up well today

Two classical French plays by the author of Candide. IRENE is set in the ancient Byzantine Empire. Alexis Comnenus, a noble general, revolts against the Emperor Nicephorus, who's been jealous of the officer's love for Nicephorus's wife, Irene. The Emperor dies defending his throne, and Alexis takes his place. Now he wants to marry his former lover. But although Irene has loved Alexis since childhood, she cannot marry the murderer of her husband, however odious he may have been. In the end she takes the only way out of her dilemma. TANIS AND ZELIDE tells the tale of Queen Zelide of Egypt, who's been driven from her throne by the Magi, and has taken refuge with the shepherds of the countryside. Tanis, one of the rustics, champions her cause, and wins battles on her behalf, while one of Zelide's loyal officers, Phanor, looks on with jealousy. Phanor betrays his lover to the evil priests, but Tanis prevails, and marches on Memphis, Egypt, where he reveals that he's the avatar of a god. The shepherd marries the Queen, and together they rule Egypt. Two great dramas by an icon of French literature

These three plays all deal with the chaos resulting from the aftermath of the fall in 1815 of the Emperor Napoleon. THE MADWOMAN OF BERESINA, by Emmanuel Theaulon and Honore de Balzac, is based on a short story by the latter author. Julie, Countess of Vandieres, witnesses the death of her officer husband during the retreat of the French Army from Russia in 1812, at the River Beresina; although she lives to return to France, she loses her mind. Only after the war do her surviving friends attempt to restore her sanity once again. THE END OF MURAT, by Jean Berleux and Alexandre Dumas, adapted from an incident in a Dumas novel, deals with the fall of Joachim Murat, Napoleonic King of the Two Sicilies, in late 1815, and his trial at the instigation of the restored monarch, King Ferdinand. THE TRIAL OF MARSHAL NEY, by Louis-Marie Fontan and Charles Dupeuty, outlines the trial of one of Napoleon's chief generals and supporters, by command of the restored King Louis XVIII of France. All three dramas provide riveting glimpses into a period when Europe was trying to rediscover itself--without much success. First-rate tragedies

Three delightful French plays about different aspects of Love. ZENEIDA, by Louis de Cahusac, is a fairy tale about love being blind--but says that true love can happen anyway, regardless of looks. It's a story filled with charm and grace. THE FOLLIES OF LOVE, by Jean-Francois de Regnard, demonstrates how far love will go to have its way. The heroine, who's being oppressed by her aged tutor, Albert, goes to emotional extremes, feigning madness, to escape his unwanted affections. THE CAT WHO TURNED INTO A WOMAN, by Eugene Scribe, is a light-hearted comedy about a young man who falls in love with his cat, believing that she's turned into a woman. But the heroine just continues chasing around a ball of twine and licking cream from her fingers. Great fun Love is eternal, these dramas suggest, and never ceases to be interesting and compelling (and entertaining ) to the human animal.

Jean-Francois Regnard (1655-1709) is considered by many critics to be the best writer of comedic plays in seventeenth-century French literature, excepting only Moliere. Regnard based many of his pieces on classical sources, and THE TWO MCNAUGHTENS is no exception, having been adapted from the Roman comedy, Menaechmi, by Plautus. The dramatist chose to adapt rather than simply translate this comedy, restaging it with a fresh British setting. Nonetheless, the basic premise--of twins and their lovers confounding each other in their bumbling attempts to inherit the estate of their uncle--closely follows the original source, save for actual names, places, and monetary denominations--and also manages to replicate the absolute hilarity of the earlier play. Great entertainment for a modern audience

This historical play follows a group of young Frenchmen from 1796-1814, as they're swept up in the Napoleonic Wars. Italy, Egypt, Austria, Russia, and France are mere signposts along the way in this epic drama, with the single unifying element being a flag woven by a group of French women in the mid-1790s, and carried by the soldiers throughout the entire length of their almost twenty-year service to the French nation. Adolphe d'Ennery was a master of theatrical spectacle who had a talent for epic and spectacle that only Alexandre Dumas could equal. He's not interested in high literature, but only in the pathos of the theatre. In Scene IX he depicts the stragglers of the defeated French Army returning from Moscow through a bare, frozen landscape, separated from their loved ones on the Russian steppes. First they pass each other, but fail to recognize their comrades-in-arms. Finally they meet, with great emotion, and just as they do...the Cossacks appear This is grand theatrical entertainment, with the same sweep as Tolstoy's War and Peace.

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

In mid-1500s France, Martin Guerre is determined to free his father, the Comte de Montgomery, from an unjust prison sentence. Montgomery had dared to love the King's mistress, Diana de Poitiers; to prevent King Henry II from discovering her indiscretion, Poitiers had arranged to have Montgomery put away for life, under conditions where no one is allowed to speak to him--and no one knows his true identity. But Guerre discovers that his father still lives, and with his half-brother, the heir to the title, will do anything to free his long-lost parent--even take the city of Calais by force from its English occupiers. The King's daughter, Diana de France, supports Guerre, because she loves his half-brother. As the political war between the two Dianas reaches its climax, Martin is determined to force Henry into the open. But Henry has his own plans Another first-rate historical drama by a master plotter

This adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas tale tells the story of two brothers, born as Siamese twins, but separated not long after birth. They're raised by two different families, but are still able to "feel" the emotions of the other, even at a distance. On the island of Corsica they become entwined in the long-running feud between the Orlandi and the Colonnas--a dispute that had its beginnings in a dispute over the ownership of a chicken Most of the two families have now been eliminated through the ongoing blood-feud, but the twins, unbeknownst to each other, are being manipulated to settle the fate of the two clans once and for all. The result is a stunning climax of swordplay and violence