''Amphitryon 38'' is a play written in 1929 by the French dramatist

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work ...

, the number in the title being Giraudoux's whimsical approximation of how many times the story had been told on stage previously.

Original productions

''Amphitryon 38'' was translated into English in 1938 by S. N. Behrman, in 1964 by Phyllis La Farge and Peter H. Judd, and in 1967 by Roger Gellert. ''Amphitryon 38'' was first performed on 8 November 1929 in Paris at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees in a production by

Louis Jouvet Jules Eugène Louis Jouvet (24 December 1887 – 16 August 1951) was a French actor, theatre director and filmmaker. Early life Jouvet was born in Crozon. He had a stutter as a young man and originally trained as a pharmacist. He receive ...

. An English production of ''Amphitryon 38'', starring

Alfred Lunt Alfred David Lunt (August 12, 1892 – August 3, 1977) was an American actor and director, best known for his long stage partnership with his wife, Lynn Fontanne, from the 1920s to 1960, co-starring in Broadway theatre, Broadway and West End thea ...

and

Lynn Fontanne Lynn Fontanne (; 6 December 1887 – 30 July 1983) was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred in Broadway and We ...

, opened at New York's Shubert Theatre on 1 November 1937.performingartsarchive.com: Amphitryon 38, Shubert Theatre playbill
/ref> In 1957 a BBC production included its first piece of commissioned

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

, created by

Daphne Oram Daphne Blake Oram (31 December 1925 – 5 January 2003) was a British composer and electronic musician. She was one of the first British composers to produce electronic sound, and was an early practitioner of musique concrète in the UK. As a co ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Plays by Jean Giraudoux 1929 plays Plays based on classical mythology Plays based on works by Plautus