Kleine Komödie

Kleine Komödie ("little comedy") is a comedy in three acts by Siegfried Geyer (1883-1945)[1].

Also found with the title Kleine Komödie in 3 Akten ("little comedy in three acts").

Not to be confused with Die kleine Komödie ("Eine Liebesgeschichte in Briefen"), an epistolary novel by Arthur Schnitzler[2]

The original text

A comedy about a Scandinavian prince who switches roles with his servant through some grotesque twist of fate, leading to a number of comic complications, the play was first performed at the Deutsches Nationaltheater in Vienna in 1927, and the German text was first published by Georg Marton in the same year.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into English as By Candle Light by Harry Graham (1874-1936)[3] in 1928 and published by Samuel French in 1930. Another translation and adaptation, this one by P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975)[4] under the title Candle-Light, opened at The Empire Theatre, New York, in 1929, running for 128 performances and much more critical acclaim than the Graham version.

In 1937 it was apparently adapted and performed as a German musical under the title Bei Kerzenlicht ("By candle light") by Karl Farkas and Siegfried Geyer, with music by Robert Katscher.

The play was translated into Afrikaans by André Huguenet with the title Geleende Vere ("borrowed feathers"). First performed in 1944, the text published by DALRO in 1969. However, Huguenet and the DALRO publication wrongly refer to the original text as Die Kleine Komödie instead of Kleine Komödie.