Fleur de Cactus
Fleur de Cactus ("Flower if the cactus") is a French comedy by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Grédy.
Contents
The original text
A play about a dentist who pretends to be married to avoid commitment, but when he falls for his girlfriend and proposes, he must recruit his lovelorn nurse to pose as his wife.
The first production was staged on 23 September 1964 by the Theatre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris.
Translations and adaptations
The American Abe Burrows wrote a 1969 play entitled Cactus Flower [1] based on Fleur de Cactus.
The Burrows play was adapted later in 1969 for film as: Cactus Flower with Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman and Goldie Hawn (for which Hawn won an Academy Award) and again in 2010 as Just Go With It starring Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and Brooklyn Decker.
The original stage play was translated by Nerina Ferreira from the French into Afrikaans under the title As die Turksvy Blom ("when the prickly pear/cactus flowers"). The text published by Dalro in 1982[2].
Made into a French made-for-television film, Fleur de Cactus, directed by Yves-André Hubert.
Performance history in South Africa
1982: The Ferreira translation, As die Turksvy Blom, was staged by PACT in the State Theatre, directed by William Egan, with Schalk Schoombie (Igor), Sally Campher (Antonia), Rika Sennett (Stéphane), Alida Theron (Madame Durand Bénéchol), James Borthwick (Julien), Nico Liebenberg (Norbert), Alwyn Swart (Monsieur Cochet), Trudie Taljaard ("Primavera" van Botticelli), Adri van der Merwe (Kelnerin) and Charlotte Butler (Kelnerin).
1983: The Ferreira translation, As die Turksvy Blom, was staged by PACOFS, directed by Sandra Kotzé, starring Anton Dekker, Pieter Brand, Gretha Brazelle, Rika Sennett and Elzette Maarschalk.
Sources
PACT theatre programme, 1982.
PACOFS Drama 25 Years, 1963-1988.
Petru & Carel Trichardt theatre programme collection.
Go to ESAT Bibliography
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