''The Apollo of Bellac'' (French title: ''L'Apollon de Bellac'' or ''L'Apollon de Marsac'') is a comedic one-act play written in 1942 by 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 ...

Plot summary

The play is set in the reception room of the International Bureau of Inventions, during autumn in Paris. It focuses on a timid, young woman by the name of Agnes. After she arrives, she is given the most powerful secret in life by a homeless man from the little town of Bellac.

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

, 13 August 1955; ''Giraudoux Play On Television "The Apollo Of Bellac"'' Like Giraudoux himself, the man comes from the

Limousin Limousin (; oc, Lemosin ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. On 1 January 2016, it became part of the new administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienn ...

region of France. The secret he gives her is to tell all men that they are beautiful ("How beautiful you are!" or "Comme vous êtes beau!") and they will play right into your hands. She quickly catches on and the men of the Bureau fall for her left and right. In the Valency translation, it ends with her meeting the handsome (and single) Chairman of the Board, and everyone wondering what has happened to the great man (the homeless inventor) who quietly slipped away.

Cast and productions

''L'Apollon de Bellac'' was translated into English by

Maurice Valency Maurice Valency (22 March 1903 – 28 September 1996) was a playwright, author, critic, and popular professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University, best known for his award-winning adaptations of plays by Jean Giraudoux and Friedric ...

, in Jean Giraudoux, ''Four Plays'', vol. 1 (1958), and 1957 by

Ronald Duncan Ronald Frederick Henry Duncan (6 August 1914 – 3 June 1982) was an English writer, poet and playwright of German descent, now best known for his poem '' The Horse'' and for preparing the libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera ''The Rape of Lucr ...

. ''The Apollo of Bellac'' was first performed as ''L'Apollon de Marsac'' on 16 June 1942 at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro. The first performance in Paris was on 19 April 1947 at the

Théâtre de l'Athénée The Théâtre de l'Athénée is a theatre at 7 rue Boudreau, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Renovated in 1996 and classified a historical monument, the Athénée inherits an artistic tradition marked by the figure of Louis Jouvet who direc ...

in a production by Louis Jouvet. Cast at the Paris premiere included

Dominique Blanchar Dominique Blanchar (born Dominique Marie Thérèse Blanchard; 2 June 1927 – 19 November 2018) was a stage, television, and film actress from France. She won two Molière Awards in her career. Personal life Dominique Blanchar was born in Pari ...

, as Agnes;

Lucienne Bogaert Lucienne Bogaert (born Lucienne Jeanne Gabrielle Lefebvre; 6 January 1892 in Caudry, Nord – 4 February 1983 in Montrouge, Hauts-de-Seine) was a French actress. She started her career in theatre, but later also worked in film. After she divo ...

, as Therese; Louis Jouvet, as "The Man from Bellac"; and

Jacques Monod Jacques Lucien Monod (February 9, 1910 – May 31, 1976) was a French biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965, sharing it with François Jacob and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of en ...

, as Mr Cracheton. In 1955, in

Tony Richardson Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones (1963 film ...

's directing début,David Parkinson, ‘Richardson, Cecil Antonio ony(1928–1991)’,

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2004 the play was produced for

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

with

Denholm Elliott Denholm Mitchell Elliott, (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English actor, with more than 125 film and television credits. His well-known roles include the abortionist in ''Alfie'' (1966), Marcus Brody in ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' (1981 ...

and Natasha Parry in the main roles. Richardson would also direct the stage play two years later, with

Richard Pasco Richard Edward Pasco, (18 July 1926 – 12 November 2014) was a British stage, screen and TV actor. Early life Pasco was born in Barnes, London, the only child of insurance company clerk Cecil George Pasco (1897-1982) and milliner Phyllis Ir ...

and

Heather Sears Heather Christine Sears (28 September 1935 – 3 January 1994) was a British stage and screen actress. Early life Sears was the daughter of distinguished London doctor William Gordon Sears by his marriage to Eileen Gould."SEARS, Heather, actre ...

. "The moment he Manis cast as a big beautiful man with curly ringlets, the play is spoiled."—Maurice Valency

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Apollo Of Bellac Plays by Jean Giraudoux 1942 plays One-act plays Plays set in France