''The Apollo of Bellac'' ( or ) 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 wo ...

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 Bellac (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. Bellac is where the French author Jean Giraudoux, writer of '' L'Apollon de Bellac'', was born in 1882. His house has been turned into ...

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

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

Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...

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 Friedri ...

, 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 (poem), The Horse'' and for preparing the libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera ' ...

. ''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 di ...

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 Stuttering, stutter as a young man and originally trained as a pharmac ...

. 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 Par ...

, 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 divor ...

, as Therese;

, as "The Man from Bellac"; and

Jacques Monod Jacques Lucien Monod (; 9 February 1910 – 31 May 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 e ...

, as Mr Cracheton. In 1955, in

Tony Richardson Cecil Antonio Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director, producer and screenwriter, whose career spanned five decades. He was identified with the "angry young men" group of British directors and play ...

'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 History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2004 the play was produced for

Television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

with

Denholm Elliott Denholm Mitchell Elliott (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English actor. He appeared in numerous productions on stage and screen, receiving BAFTA awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for ''Trading Places'' (1983), '' A Private Fu ...

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 television actor. Early life Pasco was born in Barnes, Surrey, the only child of insurance company clerk Cecil George Pasco (1897–1982) and milliner Ph ...

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 and Eileen Gould."SEARS, Heather, actress", in Ian Her ...

. "The moment

he Man He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

is 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