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.

First published at the Deutsches Nationaltheater in Vienna in 1927, the German text was first published by Georg Marton in the same year.

Translations and adaptations

Translated by Harry Graham (1874-1936)[] as By Candle Light and published by Samuel French in 1930.

In 1937 it was apparently adapted and performed as a 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.