Georges Feydeau (1862-1921)
Feydeau was born in Paris in 1862 and wrote his first play Par la fenêtre (Through the Window) in 1882 at twenty years of age. As a young man was exposed to the theatre in Paris, which, in the late 19th century, was the intellectual and artistic capital of the Western world. His first major theatrical success was a three-act work titled,Tailleur pour dames (Ladies’ Dressmaker, 1886), which he wrote at age twenty-four. This play was followed by seven years of failures and only partial successes. Meanwhile, he married the daughter of Carolus-Duran, a well-known portrait painter, who was quite rich. While supported by his father-in-law, Feydeau took a two-year hiatus from writing to study the works of other successful playwrights, particularly those who wrote farce, including Eugène Labiche, Henri Meilhac, and Alfred Hennequin. The result was Champignol malgré lui (Champignol in Spite of Himself, 1892), which became a major success for Feydeau. His career continued to blossom as he became the most popular playwright of the boulevard theatre and a great success abroad as well. In 1899, Feydeau wrote La dame de chez Maxim (The Lady from Maxim’s), which some critics consider to be his best play.
In 1907, Feydeau wrote La puce à l’oreille (A Flea in Her Ear), the play for which he is perhaps best known.Feydeau had somewhat of an existentialist view of an absurd universe where men and women confront a hostile world in which the innocent suffer with no hope of comic resolution. A Flea in Her Ear perhaps best represents this undercurrent of pessimism, as many of the characters bring suffering upon themselves by their affectation, their over-ambition, and their romantic and overly idealistic notions. Yet, this pessimism is countered by a rather joyful exuberance and life-embellishing animation that characterizes the play’s form if not its content. A Flea in Her Ear playfully explores the appetites and follies of the average human being. The characters are caught in a net devised by his or her own foolishness. Less concerned with what people should be, Feydeau focuses on what people often—and amusingly—are. While the basic premise of A Flea in Her Ear may be reasonable, but the plot quickly rushes into the realm of the irrational. Nevertheless, the play exhibits an extraordinary geometric precision, dynamic construction, and relentlessly sparkling witty dialogue.
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy that aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humor of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include sexual innuendo and word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in a comic happy ending. Farce is also characterized by physical humor and the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense. Farce in general is highly tolerant of transgressive behavior, and tends to depict human beings as vain, irrational, venal, infantile, neurotic, and prone to instinctive or involuntary behavior. In that respect, farce is a natural companion of satire. Having written some sixty plays, Feydeau is widely considered a master of the farce and A Flea in Her Ear is perhaps his best.
