Alfred Hennequin – Figures contemporaines, tirées de l'album Mariani t2 1896 – Gallica bpt6k206027c (adjusted)

Alfred Néoclès Hennequin (13 January 1842 – 7 August 1887) was a Belgian playwright, best known for his

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

s. Born in Liège, Hennequin was trained there as an engineer, and was employed by the national railway company. In his spare time he wrote plays, and in 1870 had a success in Brussels with his farce ''Les Trois chapeaux'' (The Three Hats). He moved to Paris in 1871 and became a full-time playwright. Between 1871 and 1886 he wrote a series of comic plays, including '' Le Procès Veauradieux'' (The Veauradieux Trial, 1875), '' Les Dominos roses'' (The Pink Dominos, 1876), ''Bébé'' (Baby, 1877) and ''La Femme à papa'' (Father's Wife, 1879). Most of his plays were co-written with collaborators including

Alfred Delacour Alfred Delacour or Alfred-Charlemagne Delacour, real name Pierre-Alfred Lartigue, (3 September 1817 – 31 March 1883 ) was a 19th-century French playwright and librettist. Biography In addition to his occupation as a physician, which he prac ...

and

Albert Millaud Albert Millaud was a French journalist, writer and stage author, born in Paris, 13 January 1844, and died in the same city on 23 October 1892.Maurice. Hennequin, with his intricate plotting and frenetic exits and entrances through various doors, is known as the originator of the

bedroom farce A bedroom farce or sex farce is a type of light comedy, which centres on the sexual pairings and recombinations of characters as they move through improbable plots and slamming doors. Overview The most famous bedroom farceur is probably George ...

and a model for a later master of the genre, Georges Feydeau. In addition to his farces, Hennequin wrote some of the last of the old genre of musical vaudevilles, in collaboration with composers including

Hervé Hervé is a French language, French masculine given name of Breton language, Breton origin, from the name of the 6th-century Breton Saint Hervé. The common latinization of the name is Herveus (also ''Haerveus''), an early (8th-century) latinizati ...

and

Raoul Pugno Stéphane Raoul Pugno (23 June 1852) was a French composer, teacher, organist, and pianist known for his playing of Mozart's works. Biography Raoul Pugno was born in Paris and was of Italian origin. He made his debut at the age of six, and with t ...

. Many of his farces were successfully staged in English versions, usually with the bedroom element toned down for British and American audiences. In the mid 1880s Hennequin suffered increasingly serious mental illness, and in March 1886 he entered a nursing home. He died the following year at Épinay-sur-Seine at the age of 45.

Life and career

Early years

Alfred Néoclès HennequinLarousse, Pierre
"Hennequin, Alfred"
''Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle'', Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 23 August 2020 was born in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

on 13 January 1842. He studied at the École des mines de Liege, and began his working career as an engineer for the Belgian State Railways. In his spare time he wrote plays under a pen name. A two-act comedy, ''J'attends mon oncle'' (I'm Waiting for My Uncle) was produced at the Théâtre Royal des Galeries in Brussels in 1869. The following year the same theatre presented his three-act comedy ''Les Trois chapeaux'' (The Three Hats), which ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'' described as "a play of astonishing comic verve".Obituary, ''Le Figaro'', 8 August 1887, p. 4 Hennequin moved to Paris, where ''Les Trois chapeaux'' was produced at the

Théâtre du Vaudeville The Théâtre du Vaudeville was a theatre company in Paris. It opened on 12 January 1792 on rue de Chartres. Its directors, Piis and Barré, mainly put on "petites pièces mêlées de couplets sur des airs connus", including vaudevilles. Af ...

in 1871. There was a brief controversy before the first night: Hennequin, as a Belgian, was accused of having been insufficiently pro-French and anti-German during the recent Franco-Prussian War, but the accusation was quickly withdrawn. The premiere went well. The critic

Jules Prével Jules Prével (1835 in Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët – 1889 in Paris) was a 19th-century French journalist and opera librettist. For a while, he was responsible for the theatre column in ''Le Figaro''. He participated in the writing of the libret ...

wrote that the audience laughed as much as the excessively hot weather allowed, and "Besides, M. Hennequin's play is funny … a misplaced hat, running from hand to hand, fluttering from head to head, produces quiproquos that are pretty comical, but too long to detail."Prével, Jules
"Vaudeville"
''Le Figaro'', 2 September 1871, p. 4 The main roles were in the expert hands of star members of the Vaudeville company: Auguste Parade, Léopold Delannoy and Saint-Germain, and the piece was a success.

1875–1878

Hennequin had other comedies ready, but, as ''Le Figaro'' later commented, "in Paris, the difficulty is not writing amusing plays – it is getting them played". Hennequin's next success was not until June 1875. He collaborated with

on a three-act farce, ''Le Procès Veauradieux'' (The Veauradieux Trial). The Vaudeville was officially closed for the customary summer break, and Paris was in the middle of a heatwave, but the members of the theatre's company decided to stage the play regardless of their management.Vitu, Auguste
"Premières représentations"
''Le Figaro'', 21 June 1875, p. 3 The authors of ''

Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique ''Les Annales du Théâtre et de la Musique'' ("The Annals of Theatre and Music") was an annual French periodical which covered French dramatic and lyric theatre for 42 years, from 1875 to 1916. The volumes also covered concert series and ne ...

'' wrote: In ''Le Figaro'' Auguste Vitu wrote, "M. Delacour and M. Hennequin won the Veauradieux Trial, with interest, damages and costs; we laughed for two hours, laughed as in the good old days of the Vaudeville, as at the best evenings of the Palais-Royal, we laughed like a herd of madmen". The play ran for 175 performances and established Hennequin's reputation. The following year Hennequin and Delacour had another success at the Vaudeville with '' Les Dominos roses'' (The Pink Dominos), described by ''Le Figaro'' as "the triumph of the imbroglio", and by the London theatrical paper '' The Era'' as "a triumph" ''tout court''. It ran for 127 performances, and was followed by '' Bébé'' (1877, with

Émile de Najac Comte Émile de Najac (December 1828 – 11 April 1889) was a French librettist. He was a prolific writer during the Second Empire and early part of the Third Republic, supplying plays and opéra comique librettos, many in one act. Biography É ...

) at the Théâtre du Gymnase (214 performances), ''Le Phoque'' (The Seal, 1878, with Delacour) at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal and ''La Poudre d'escampette'' (The Quick Getaway, with Henri Bocage) at the Théâtre des Variétés.

Last years

The following years saw the appearance of ''La Petite correspondance'', at the Gymnasium, ''Le Renard bleu'', at the Palais-Royal, and then the series of plays written for

Anna Judic Anne Marie-Louise Damiens, stage name Anna Judic (18 July 1849, Semur-en-Auxois – 15 April 1911, Golfe-Juan) was a French comic actress. Life Niece of Montigny (the director of the Gymnase), in 1866 she entered the Conservatoire de Paris in ...

, in collaboration with

Albert Millaud Albert Millaud was a French journalist, writer and stage author, born in Paris, 13 January 1844, and died in the same city on 23 October 1892.opérette This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

s, such as those by Offenbach, and, in the words of the writer Peter Meyer, "the vaudeville itself ... akin to what we would call slapstick farce, where movement was more important than character".Meyer, p. 10 Some of Hennequin's works, such as ''Niniche'' (1878), ''La Femme à papa'' (1879) and ''Lili'' (1882), with music by composers such as

and

were among the last of the old genre of musical vaudeville."The Drama in Paris", ''The Era'', 13 August 1887, p. 7 In his non-musical works, Hennequin perfected the intricate plotting that later served as a model for Georges Feydeau. The writer

Leonard Pronko Leonard Cabell Pronko (1927November 27, 2019) was an American theatre scholar best known for introducing the Japanese dance drama kabuki to the West, beginning in the 1960s. He was a professor of theatre at Pomona College in Claremont, Californi ...

describes Hennequin's plots as "endless mazes of crisscrossing couples, scurrying from door to door, room to room in every possible and impossible combination". For his innovative skill in this regard, Hennequin became known as "the father of the farce". Hennequin worked constantly, and by the early 1880s he was showing signs of mental strain. His condition grew worse, and in March 1886 he went into a nursing home in Saint-Mande. He died a few months later at another nursing home Épinay-sur-Seine, on 7 August 1887 at the age of 45. His body was found in the garden of the home, and suicide was at first suspected, but he had been in good spirits and it was concluded that he had accidentally fallen out of the window of his room.

Plays by Hennequin

Revivals and adaptations

After the author's death his works were revived from time to time. Among other Parisian productions, ''La Femme à Papa'' was given at the Variétés in 1895, ''Nounou'' at the Dézajet in 1899, ''Bébé'' at the Vaudeville in 1901, and ''Niniche'' at the Variétés in the same year. On Broadway there were several production of Hennequin's plays during his lifetime and into the early 20th century. ''Baby'' (1877 and 1878) was based on ''Bébé''; ''

The Pink Dominos ''The Pink Dominos'' is a farce in three acts by James Albery based on the French farce '' Les Dominos roses'' by Alfred Hennequin and Alfred Delacour. It concerns a plan by two wives to test their husbands' fidelity at a masked ball and a misch ...

'' (1877) on ''Les Dominos roses'', ''The Great Divorce Case'' (1883) on ''Le Procès Veauradieux'' and ''Before and After'' (1905–06) on ''La Poudre de l'escampette''. In 1912, ''The Opera Ball'', a musical version of ''Les Dominos roses'', was given. In the West End adaptations included two different versions of ''Les Trois chapeaux''; and ''Niniche'' appeared as ''Boulogne'' by

F. C. Burnand Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (29 November 1836 – 21 April 1917), usually known as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and prolific playwright, best known today as the librettist of Arthur Sullivan's opera ''Cox and Box''. The son of ...

in 1879, a previous English version having been banned by the censor. At the

Criterion Theatre The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588. Building the theatre In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development ...

, Charles Wyndham and his company made a speciality of French farces, including Hennequin's ''Le Procès Veauradieux'', ''Les Dominos roses'', ''Bébé'' and ''La Femme à papa'', as ''The Great Divorce Case'' (1876), ''The Pink Dominos'' (1877), ''Betsey'' (1879) and ''Little Miss Muffet'' (1882), the second and third of these running for 555 and 408 performances respectively: very considerable runs for the period. In the 21st century the

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. Th ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, London revived ''Le Procès Veauradieux'' under the title ''Once Bitten'' in 2010. Adaptations for the cinema include ''Bébé'', directed by

Georges Monca Georges Monca ( 23 October 1867 – 26 December 1939) was a French film director. He was extremely prolific, making nearly four hundred films during his career - mainly during the silent era. His shorts ''Rigadin Directeur de Cinéma'' and ''Ri ...

and

Charles Prince Charles Owen "Chuck" Prince III (born January 13, 1950) is an American corporate executive and lawyer. He is a former chairman and chief executive of Citigroup. He succeeded Sandy Weill as the chief executive of the firm in 2003, and as the chair ...

(France, 1914, short film, based on ''Bébé''); ''La Femme à papa'', directed by

and

(France, 1914, short film, based on ''La Femme à papa''); ''

Lili ''Lili'' is a 1953 American film released by MGM. It stars Leslie Caron as a touchingly naïve French girl whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets. The film won the Academy Award for ...

'', directed by (Hungary, 1918, based on ''Lili''); '' Niniche'', directed by

Camillo De Riso Camillo De Riso (1854–1924) was an Italian actor and film director.Goble p.216 Camillo De Riso, a native from Naples died in Rome on 2 July 1924. With a mention that he was born in Naples. Selected filmography * '' Love Everlasting'' (1913) ...

(Italy, 1918, based on ''Niniche''); ', directed by

Luciano Doria Luciano Doria (born 1891) was an Italian screenwriter, producer and film director.Goble p.40 Selected filmography * '' Pleasure Train'' (1924) * ''Beatrice Cenci'' (1926) * ''The Golden Vein'' (1928) * '' Goodbye Youth'' (1928) * ''Kif Tebbi'' ...

(Italy, 1924, based on ''Le Train de plaisir''); '' Opernball'', directed by

Géza von Bolváry Géza von Bolváry (born Géza Gyula Mária Bolváry Zahn, german: Géza Maria von Bolváry-Zahn; 26 December 1897 – 10 August 1961) was a Hungarians, Hungarian actor, screenwriter, and film director, who worked principally in Germany and Aust ...

(Germany, 1939, based on ''Les Dominos roses''); '' Opernball'', directed by Ernst Marischka (Austria, 1956, based on ''Les Dominos roses'')."Opernball"
Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 23 August 2020

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hennequin, Alfred Writers from Liège 1842 births 1887 deaths 19th-century Belgian dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Belgian male writers Belgian male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Belgian writers