Nuffield Theatre
on19th to 24th June 1978
| Cast (in order of appearance) | |
| Boniface | Graham Buchanan |
| Angelique | Julie Baker |
| Mareelle | Mollie Manns |
| Cot | David Pike |
| Maxime | Robert Smith |
| Victoire | Angela Stansbridge |
| Martin | Ken Spencer |
| Martin’s Daughters | Hazel Burrows, Joanna Hudek, Gillian Roberts, Kate Summerton, Sandy White, Georgina Williams |
| Aniello | David Jupp |
| Georges | Peter White |
| A Lady | Lynda Edwards |
| A Duke | Tony Lawther |
| Tabu | John Burrows |
| Inspector Bouchard | Geoff Wharam |
| Porters and Policemen | Terry Handley, Paul Lucas, Mike Johnson, Monty Rose, Brendan Taggart, Ron Tillyer |
| For the Maskers: | |
| Designed and Directed by | Kenneth Spencer |
| Technical Director | Ron Tillyer |
| Stage Manager | Joy Wingfield |
| Stage Assistants | Valerie Barwell, Jacquie Mitchell |
| Set Construction | John Riggs, Alan Baker, Mike Johnson |
| Scenic Artists | Kenneth Spencer, Hazel Burrows |
| Wardrobe Mistress | Lillian Gunstone |
| Wardrobe Assistant | Doreen Andrews |
| Wardrobe Hire | Salisbury Playhouse |
| Sound | Mike McDermid |
| Lighting | Roger Lockett |
| Lighting Design | Derek Jones |
| Business Manager | Brian Stansbridge |
| Publicity | Graham Buchanan |
Georges Feydeau was born in Paris on December 8, 1862, the son of Ernest Feydeau, a writer who published The History of Funeral Customs and Burial Rights of Ancient Peoples in the same year that saw the birth of his son, who was to make all Paris roar with laughter. Young Georges was a charming and very lazy child who at the age of six or seven, after his first visit to the theatre, took his school notebook and began to write a play. His astounded father excused him for not doing his lessons that day, and the boy continued to write whenever he did not wish to study. By the time he was in secondary school, he was writing sprightly dialogues. His first play to be produced in Paris was Love and Piano, a one-act comedy. In the same year, Feydeau, who had shown considerable talent as an amateur actor, was invited to join the company at the Vaudeville. He missed being hired, and thus perhaps lost as a dramatist, only because the director was late for their appointment.
Feydeau wrote his first big hit, A Gown for His Mistress, while he was in military service in 1884. He then went through a difficult period of rejections by director after director. Then, in 1892, Monsieur Goes Hunting was produced at the Palais-Royal and ran for 1,000 performances, and Champignol in Spite of Himself was produced at the Theatre des Nouveautes and ran for several performances longer.
Feydeau’s triumphant career brought him both fame and money and reached a climax with Keep an Eye on Amelie in 1908. His laziness was now as fabled as his charm and wit, and at this point he began to invest in the stock market. He was lucky at first but then lost heavily and had to begin to write again, producing the series of one-act plays that he considered publishing under the collective title From Marriage to Divorce, since they were all concerned with the hazards of middle-class marriage. These were all written and produced immediately before World War I.
Hotel Paradiso, written in 1894, is an excellent example of the classic Feydeau farce, with its fast action and uproariously complicated plot.
Feydeau died in Paris on June 5th, 1921.
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