French playwright has the last laugh
Critics disliked him. For several decades in the late 19th century, his works were snubbed and dismissed as nothing more than 'cheap entertainment'. They didn't even bother putting his name in the books on French drama history.
But had Georges Feydeau been alive today, the playwright would be having the last laugh. Recognised as one of the European masters of comedy, the son of a novelist wrote 39 farces, including masterpieces like The Girl From Maxim's, A Flea In Her Ear, and Paradise Hotel.
Local audiences will be able to get a taste of his blend of farcical humour this month when the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre stages his 1896 play An Absolute Turkey, to be directed by veteran actor and director Chung King-fai.
Chung, who is also the dean of drama at the Academy for Performing Arts, says when the Hong Kong Rep approached him to direct the play, the condition was that it had to have 'lots of people and be funny'. Feydeau immediately sprang to mind.
'I love his plays, they are hilarious, and his way of presenting is stylish,' says Chung, who has translated the script into Chinese. 'The plots of Feydeau's dramas are very complex,' he adds. 'But his dramas are enjoyable to the audience. On one hand, they are anxious for the characters trapped in difficult situations, on the other, they laugh cheerfully.'
Feydeau's favourite themes were marriage, infidelity and love. And his favourite comic device is the meeting of characters who want to avoid each other. An Absolute Turkey illustrates exactly that - what Feydeau had called the 'worst meeting'. The play throws to the audience a bunch of guilty, or suspecting, husbands, wives and assorted mistresses, usually converging on the same sleazy hotel. In An Absolute Turkey, the story begins with a man following a woman home before realising her husband is also his friend. The focus switches to the husband who runs into a woman with whom he once had an affair. The pair sets a date in a hotel.
Meanwhile, the wife learns about this rendezvous and to take revenge she then finds another man - but he is married. When the married man's wife discovers his infidelity, she also plans her revenge . . .
The French dramatist, Chung says, is famous for two theatrical techniques: detailed arrangement in structure and rapid-fire dialogues. 'The dialogues are fast, the phrases are short and snappy, they follow one after another in quick pace, it is fabulous,' Chung says, adding that directing the drama requires great sense of timing.
'We have to pay attention to the rhythm, the dialogues can't be stopped for too long in order to keep the laughs,' the director says. 'And I have to make sure the actors are in an uplifting mood to play it. It is a comedy, not a tragedy.'
There is little music in the play, but, Chung says, 'the music is in the hearts of the actors. Their speed at reading the script, their movements and their voices are all invisible music'.
An Absolute Turkey: Kwai Ching Theatre, November 11-12 and 14-20, 7.30pm November 19, 2.30pm. Tickets: $100-$180. Urbtix, tel: 2734 9009.
