Dear Antoine

Dear Antoine or The Love That Failed ( Cher Antoine, ou, L'amour raté) by Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) translated into English by Lucienne Hill. A group of people is summoned to a remote baroque mansion in the Bavarian mountains to hear the reading of the Will of successful playwright Antoine de Saint Flour in the winter of 1913. The reluctant group includes the playwright's wife, a few friends and several ex-mistresses. In confronting one another they are uneasily aware that they are facing different reflections of Antione's fascinating and maddening personality. Poignant and fiercely witty, it displays to the full Anouilh's theatrical sleight of hand.

The original text

English translation first performed in Paris in 1969, published by Samuel French.

Translations and adaptations

Translated by Lucienne Hill

Performance history in South Africa

The play's South African première was presented by CAPAB Drama's English Company in the Nico Malan Theatre in 1971, directed by Michael Atkinson, designed by Raimond Schoop, costumes by Jennifer Craig, starring Gwen ffrangçon-Davies as Carlotta Alexandra, Michael Atkinson, John Whiteley, Marika Mann, Ronald France, Betty Botha, Grethe Fox, Kerry Jordan, Gabriel Bayman, Mollie Thompson, Rob Davies, Diana James, Kathleen Lee, Marion Achber, Richard Hainebach. Music composed (or arranged) and conducted by Michael Tuffin.

Sources

Dear Antoine programme, 1971

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