Figaro/Figaro
Play Description
Eric Overmyer’s sparkling adaptation and synthesis of Beaumarchais’s THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO and Ödön von Horváth’s FIGARO GETS A DIVORCE. FIGARO/FIGARO follows the iconic characters of Figaro, Susanna, the Count and Countess Almaviva, and other favorites through the ups and downs inherent in all relationships — husband and wife, master and servant, family ties and the like.
Production Info
Cast: 17 total (6 female, 11 male)Full Length Drama (about 160 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Press Quotes
“Ödön von Horváth’s magnificent 1936 FIGARO GETS A DIVORCE was conceived as a modern sequel to Beaumarchais’s 1784 classic THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO and, naturally, has always invited comparison to the earlier work. In presenting the two in tandem, director Stan Wojewodski and adaptor Eric Overmyer have made the comparison easy and enjoyable and, remarkably, have created a single piece that occasionally shimmers with inspiration, acquiring an independent artistic identity.” —Jonathan Kalb, The Village Voice
“One of the more provocative productions to be seen in the last days of 1994 was the Yale Repertory Theatre’s FIGARO/FIGARO … a project that deserves more productions. It’s full of rich possibilities.” —Vincent Canby, The New York Times
Author(s)
Eric OvermyerEric Overmyer is a playwright and a television writer and producer. He graduated as a theater major from Reed College in 1973. His plays include ON THE VERGE, THE HELIOTROPE BOUQUET, IN A PIG'S VALISE, DON QUIXOTE DE LA JOLLA, NATIVE SPEECH, MI VIDA LOCA, IN PERPETUITY THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE, and DARK RAPTURE. Mr Overmyer has written extensively for television, including for Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire and Law & Order, and has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. He received an Edgar Award for the television feature Rear Window. Overmyer was also a co-creator of the HBO series Treme, about musicians in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Pierre BeaumarchaisBeaumarchais was the pen name of Pierre-Augustin Caron, born in 1732 in Paris, the son of a clockmaker. His life was a parallel of the title character from his play THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO. He rose by his wits, became a soldier, businessman, inventor, musician, and diplomat, was a sometime protégé of Louis XVI, a political intriguer, an advocate of social reform and a gunrunner (to the American revolution), in addition to being a memoirist and playwright. He was the author of forgotten tragedies as well as THE BARBER OF SEVILLE. The royal censor forbade THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, and Beaumarchais lobbied for six years before it was produced. Because of his court connections, he was accused of royalist sympathies during the Terror, but escaped the guillotine and died in 1799 of natural causes.
Ödön von HorváthEdmund Josef von Horváth (1901 – 1938) was a German-writing Austro-Hungarian-born playwright and novelist. He preferred the Hungarian version of his first name and published as Ödön von Horváth. Horváth was prolific, publishing twenty-one plays during his brief lifetime, which won him international repute. In 1931 he was awarded the Kleist Prize for his play TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS. He died in a freak accident from a falling branch while seeking shelter during a storm.
Book Information
| Publisher | BPPI |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 6/1/1996 |
| Pages | 127 |
| ISBN | 9780881451221 |
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
Originally produced by Yale Repertory Theatre
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypub.com
Related Plays
Play Description
When the 17th-century Spanish dramatist and monk Tirso de Molina penned EL BURLADOR DE SEVILLA, it was the first time the legendary libertine Don Juan had appeared on stage. Lynne Alvarez’s translation and adaptation of Tirso de Molina’s play gives us the legendary Latin lover in his original incarnation.
Production Info
Cast: 15 total (5 female, 10 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$19.95–$20.00
Collection Description
This collection includes five long one-act plays: THE AWFUL TOOTH, BLASTED EVENT, DEAD WRONG, POTTY FAVORS, and SHE CAN’T BARE IT! Master Belle Époque farceur Georges Feydeau loosely based these brilliantly funny long one-acts on the failure of his own marriage. The plays, greatly admired in his time, were described by a prominent critic as “insane merriment, inextinguishable laughter.” With DEAD WRONG, the first play in the collection, Feydeau launched a new genre: the marital farce, the hell of couples. And “like the very great comic writers,” another critic noted, Feydeau “knows how to make the public laugh at his personal bitterness.” It was Feydeau himself who suggested that these five one-acts be collected under the title FROM MARRIAGE TO DIVORCE. This collection, which for the first time brings these plays together in English, honors that suggestion. Distinguished translator Laurence Senelick has taken care to preserve all of Feydeau’s stage directions as sure guides to staging the plays for maximum effect. DEAD WRONG: A husband and wife stay together by force of habit, their relationship based on nothing solid. The wife’s aggression and bitterness and the husband’s selfishness and irresponsibility are revealed, and their ferocious animosity unleashes such powerful comedy that it obscures the underlying darkness. POTTY FAVORS: Inspired by Feydeau’s wife’s obsession with giving the children laxatives, especially his eldest son, Jacques, every character is despicable for their moral cowardice and egoism, providing a hopeless (but hilarious) environment for child-rearing. SHE CAN’T BARE IT!: What to do about a wife going around the apartment in her nightie until lunchtime? BLASTED EVENT: Trapped in a misalliance, a husband is set upon by his wife, his in-laws, and the midwife. THE AWFUL TOOTH was the last new play of Feydeau to be produced in his lifetime, and its dentist’s chair offers a dose of sadistic hilarity. As translator Laurence Senelick notes, “Feydeau may be to dentists what Molière was to doctors.”
Plays in This Collection
Full Length Drama (about 160 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
The first celebrity chef, Auguste Escoffier is revealed in all his culinary glory in this delightful one-man show.
Production Info
Cast: 1 total (1 male)Full Length Drama (about 75 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00
Play Description
Molière's classic comedy comes to uproarious new life in a clever and contemporary adaptation Christopher Bayes and Steven Epp. The traditional story of a girl feigning illness to avoid an unwanted wedding erupts into hilarity when a pretend physician proves that love and laughter remain life's best medicine.
Production Info
Cast: 10 total (3 female, 7 male, doubling)Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Pontagnac, an inveterate womanizer, follows Lucienne to her house and makes advances. When her husband appears, who is none other than Vatelin, one of Pontagnac’s friends, the kerfuffle is soon settled between them as Vatelin, knowing Pontagnac, forgives him. But an unforeseen event sows discord: Liesl, who had been Vatelin’s mistress in Vienna, arrives at his house. Pontagnac takes this opportunity to tell Lucienne that her husband is cheating on her and gives her proof that Vatelin has a date in a hotel room with Liesl. Meanwhile, earnest Redillon, Lucienne’s friend, also declares his love for her. What is Lucienne to do? From there Feydeau’s intricate plot catches you up in a whirlwind of amorous and vengeful hilarity that ends with — you may conclude — everyone getting just what they deserve.
Production Info
Cast: 17 total (6 female, 11 male, doubling possible, female and male bit parts)Full Length Comedy (about 180 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
Richard Nelson’s critically lauded adaptation of Strindberg’s classic, in which a power struggle between husband and wife leads to devastating consequences.
Production Info
Cast: 8 total (3 female, 5 male)Full Length Drama (about 95 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
Considered one of Ibsen's masterpieces, ROSMERSHOLM is the story of Johannes Rosmer, a former clergyman and owner of the estate Rosmersholm. When Rosmer intends to use his position in the community to help the newly elected reformist government, his ruling-class brethren turn against him. A series of tragic consequences ensue in this classic drama of social and political change.
Production Info
Cast: 6 total (2 female, 4 male)Full Length Drama (about 160 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
Anthony Clarvoe's adaptation of THE WILD DUCK remains remarkably faithful to Ibsen's masterpiece.
Production Info
Cast: 6 total (2 female, 4 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
Frank Langella’s gritty, minimalist adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, based on Brian Hooker’s translation.
Production Info
Cast: 12 total (3 female, 9 male)Full Length Drama (about 115 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
The classic 1851 farce. Fadinard is on the way to his wedding when his horse eats a straw hat hanging on a bush. The owner of the hat is a former girlfriend who insists that Fadinard buys her a new hat instantly. He sets off to find a replacement hat, followed by his fiancée and all their guests. The play develops into a delirious chase as Fadinard hunts the hat and the guests hunt Fadinard and comic misunderstandings litter every scene.
Production Info
Cast: 18 total (6 female, 12 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$0.00–$15.00
Play Description
The title character, based on a legendary Norwegian folk hero, is a rogue who is saved by the love of a woman. Peer Gynt is a charming but arrogant peasant youth who leaves his widowed mother in order to seek his fortune. Confident of success, he has one disastrous adventure after another. In one, he attends the wedding of the wealthy young woman he himself might have married. There he meets Solveig, who falls in love with him. He impulsively abducts the bride from her wedding celebration and subsequently abandons her. Peer Gynt embarks on a series of fantastic voyages around the world, finding wealth and fame but never happiness. Finally, as an old, disillusioned man, he returns to Norway, where Solveig, ever faithful, welcomes him lovingly, and he is redeemed.
Production Info
Cast: 28 total (10 female, 18 male)Full Length Drama (about 160 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
A comical, anachronistic, and witty retelling of the Greek myth, composed “after Kleist by way of Molière with a little bit of Giraudoux.”
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (2 female, 5 male)Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes