MOLIERE ET SES AMIS ET LES GAIETES DE LA CONSIGNE
by Prof. FrancoisDenoeu. Librairie Jean Mordacq, Aire-sur-la-Lys (Pas-de-Calais), 1950. For sale at Dartmouth Bookstore. 81 pp., 60 cents.
In these two delightful one-act plays Professor Denoeu makes his first excursion into the realm of the theatre. The first play, Moliere at Ses Amis, was presented a dozen or so years ago in Robinson Hall by the members of the Cercle Francais of Dartmouth College. It is an attempt (and a successful one) to recapture the spirit and the esprit of the age of Louis XIV. The cast of characters, being drawn from real persons of the seventeenth century part (Madame de la Sabliere, Ninon de Lenclos, Moliere, Boileau), succeeds in making this, to most people, perhaps, rather dim and unreal century vivid and actuel. It arouses a not unpleasant nostalgia for the gold and crimson of Versailles and Fontainebleau.
The second play, which might be called in English Fun in Study-Hall, is, as might be guessed, in a much more playful mood than the first. It presents the secular problem of the conflict between youth and age, between the teacher and the taught. A group of lyceens, confined to study-hall for lack of academic fervor, take vengeance on their stern and somewhat sadistic principal by having one of their number impersonate the distinguished and awe-inspiring superintendent of schools. The pseudo-superintendent berates and reviles the principal as he has berated and reviled his erring pupils; in short, in a manner dear to the heart of every bureaucrat of whatever place or time.
These two plays are admirably adapted for presentation by American students of French. Moliere at Ses Amis is perhaps more appropriate for college students, as it is subtler, wittier, and requires more mature interpretation to make it effective. The more boisterous humor of Les Gaietes de la Consigne would make it suitable for secondary schools as well as for colleges. The success of Marcel Pagnol's Topaze, with its scenes from school life, would indicate that it might have an even wider appeal. The present reviewer hopes that both these plays will gain wide recognition among American schools and colleges.
