La répétition ou l'amour puni

by Jean Anouilh

This comedy presents a group of rich, clever aristocrats saturated with sexual experience and expertise. The count and countess permit one another's infidelities with the understanding that affairs must be restricted to their own artificial milieu. But when the count falls in love with an unsullied young woman, his wife and former mistress seal a bizarre alliance to destroy the girl.

Genres: Drama, Plays, Theatre, France, French Literature

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 1950

About the author

Jean Anouilh was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades, producing works that ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, though he is best remembered for his 1944 production of Sophocles’ Antigone, which, despite passing censorship, was widely interpreted as a critique of the Vichy regime. Born to a tailor father and a violinist mother, Anouilh absorbed the theatre from an early age, attending rehearsals and reading scripts, and began writing plays at twelve. The family moved to Paris, where he attended the Lycée Chaptal and briefly studied law at the Sorbonne before leaving to work in advertising. Early in his career he wrote comic scenes for cinema and worked as secretary to director Louis Jouvet, whose mentorship and the influence of playwright Jean Giraudoux inspired Anouilh to pursue theatre seriously. He debuted with collaborative and solo plays such as Humulus le muet, L’Hermine, and Mandarine, which, though not commercially successful, led to greater recognition with Le voyageur sans bagage in 1937. Anouilh developed distinct categories for his plays, including pièces noires, or tragedies like Antigone, exploring moral integrity against compromise; pièces roses, comedic works emphasizing fantasy and freedom; pièces brillantes, witty plays set in aristocratic environments; pièces grinçantes, darker, ironic comedies; and pièces costumées, historical dramas such as The Lark and Becket, highlighting protagonists pursuing moral paths amidst corruption. His later works, often called pièces secrètes, focused on dramatists and theatre professionals, emphasizing family and intimate relationships over conventional theatrical action. Politically, Anouilh remained largely apolitical, serving in the French Army and living under German occupation, his plays often interpreted as ambivalent reflections on resistance and pragmatism. Critically, he was recognized for blending lyrical language, precise dialogue, and structured plots, producing a prolific output for over fifty years, and winning accolades including the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, consideration for the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the inaugural Grand Prix du Théâtre de l'Académie française. His works continued to be performed internationally, balancing existential concerns, moral dilemmas, and humor, reflecting a nuanced perspective on human nature. By the end of his career, he had influenced French theatre deeply, navigating between realism, comedy, and tragedy, and remained a vital figure in twentieth-century drama until his death, leaving a legacy of plays that explore the tension between idealism and compromise, the demands of conscience, and the pursuit of integrity in a flawed world.

Reviews

[Sketchbook · Rating 3 out of 5]

The French 'love' game : A contempo married couple and their respective lovers rehearse a Marivaux comedy at a chateau. "The object of art is to give life a shape - to make it more real than reality," explains the host whose cynical calm is broken by an Outsider. With Anouilh, it depends on the translation. This one (Pamela Hansford Johnson & Kitty Black) is OK. I would have preferred Nancy Mitford. For performance : big cuts required. Still, it's Anouilh and his wit is scalding.

Once again, here's another play by Anouilh that begs for a new translation. Along w huge edits. Calling Tom Stoppard.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, dangerous, divinely constructed little play about a group of modern aristocrats who are still carrying on as if Dangerous Liasons was an admirable lifestyle to aspire to. Anouilh creates some of his best characters, with excellent roles for men and women and a complexly woven story that features multiple protagonists and antagonists. The general conceit, that the characters are rehearsing a play from another time, allows for a mystery as to when exactly the play takes place, one not resolved until far later in the script, the world becoming more modern as the characters move farther and father from their Enlightenment Era roots. Enigmatic and deft at every turn- an underrated masterpiece.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anouilh's elegantly written comedy of manners seems like a response to Jean Renoir's masterpiece, "The Rules of the Game." A group of aristocrats rehearse a play to be performed at a banquet. The head of the household, the Count, has cast a young governess, Lucille, as the ingenue (and amazingly, the role was originally played in English by Maggie Smith). To the dismay of his wife and mistress, he falls in love with her, and they plot to break up the couple. The problem is that their plots are rather inane (or is that the point). It's not just that I could have dispatched the young innocent easily (give her a makeover to make her as glittering and shallow as the wife and mistress). It's that I'd rather see that play.

[Myriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cette pièce de théâtre raconte de manière brillante l'histoire d'une galerie de personnages.
Les portraits sont au vitriol. Derrière les façades joyeuses, tout le monde est envieux, désabusé ou désespéré. C'est très noir, mais extrêmement fin au niveau des relations, de l'amour et du mensonge.

[Benoît · Rating 2 out of 5]

Make no mistakes, I like mister Anouilh. His plays are clever constructions, they reinvent the tragic by transposing them to modern settings and to our modest lives, yet the tone is light, playful, the characters debonair. That's a good recipe, but La Répétition is rather in bad taste. The problem is maybe that Anouilh has to put abusive gender relationships on stage in order to implicitly condemn them, and that the more he wants to condemn them, the more abusive and cruel they become. The countess and Hero, especially, become monsters. Althoug delicate and somewhat touching, the count is of course rather annoying in his glorified irresponsible egocentrism. Lucile, the innocent girl everybody wants to save / love (the count) or shred to pieces (the others), is just designated as an incarnation of purity and goodness, we know little of her, so we have to grant her magneticism. It's the story of her lack of corruption, and then her corruption, which happens rather quickly. It's not new either. 'Tout ça pour ça', comme on dit (all this for that, as we say). I think the credibility of the characters waver already in the middle of the play, and towards the end, it also becomes apparent Anouilh had little idea how to end it (obviously, a play's end should be strong).

[Salino]

« Héro : Comme c'est intéressant ! Hortensia, mon petit cœur de roc, venez voir ce gracieux phénomène naturel : un homme qui souffre d'amour. Il ne faut pas perdre une occasion de s'instruire. »
acte 1

« Le comte : J'ai valeureusement arraché Sylvia aux douze monstres. 
Il se suce le doigt. 
Je saigne. Il y en a un qui a tenté de me griffer...»
acte 1

« Le comte : Mais je n'ai pas besoin de vous expliquer le rôle, Mademoiselle; vous n'avez qu'à être vous. » fin acte 1

[Antoine Gueguen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficile d'évaluer une pièce de théâtre avec une lecture seule. Cependant une nouvelle fois cette pièce témoigne du talent de Anouilh, avec ici une virtuosité dans la mise en abyme d'une pièce dans la pièce.

[Violette ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je l'ai lu juste car je devais le lire et j'ai pas trouvé ça fifou. J'ai pas réellement eu envie de lire la suite, mais j'avais aussi envie de le finir le plus vite possible pour pouvoir m'en débarrasser.

[Eloïse · Rating 2 out of 5]

j’ai bien aimé mais je pense que je n’ai pas vraiment compris tout le livre, et je ne comprends pas la fin, il n’y en a pas ???

[Lehcar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder what Jean Anouilh thinks of Love Game by Lady Gaga

[Hamoir Léonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’ai plutôt bien aimé.
La fin m’a laissé un goût amer. C’était un peu absurde la situation de concubinage bizarre du Compte…

[zai ;) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meilleure pièce de théâtre, elle est parfaite, j’adore surtout l’interprétation de Bernard Giraudeau et Anny Duperey (1986), WOW WOW WOW.

[evanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

étonnamment sympathique

[Etienne Mahieux · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un comte désoeuvré et libertin par principe, prénommé Tigre, organise dans la gentilhommière dont il a hérité aux conditions d'y entretenir une fondation pour les orphelins une représentation amateur de la "Double inconstance" de Marivaux. Entouré de rouées dans son genre, il doit sortir de son monde pour distribuer le rôle de Silvia, la paysanne courtisée par un prince, et choisit la jeune institutrice de ses petits protégés. En bonne héroïne d'Anouilh, celle-ci est un bloc de droiture qui bouleverse ce petit monde et le petit coeur du fauve. De sorte que l'intrigue de "La Répétition" semble d'abord doubler en partie celle de "La Double inconstance". Anouilh fait, me semble-t-il, ses premiers pas dans l'esthétique de la mise en abyme qui aboutira aux plus baroques de ses pièces ; ce sont encore des pas comptés, le spectateur n'est que brièvement perdu dans les échos entre les deux pièces, qui se raréfient d'ailleurs un temps, le temps pour la pièce de passer de la comédie de moeurs au mélodrame. Quand j'avais vu cette pièce au Lucernaire, elle était un peu raccourcie, ce qui ne lui faisait pas de mal. Les personnages passent un peu trop de temps à philosopher et à exprimer leur conception de l'existence. Étant entendu qu'en plus il y en a un qui radote en raison de son taux d'alcoolémie, bon... Mais Anouilh crée un subtil jeu de malentendus entre ses personnages et le heurt des caractères est rempli de force théâtrale.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play of morals and manners is witty, and caustic. It is a play within a play, fully critical of aristocratic mores. It is unclear when the play takes place, and explores the nature of power in relationships. “Hysterics are the hallmark of the production of genius. Insults are its common currency.” In the end, I disliked all the characters in the play. I struggled to relate to the material, and because of these items, to like it. I think seeing this play performed rather than reading it is the way to go.


See my other reviews here!

[Antonio Papadourakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Σύντομο αλλά εκφράζει αποτελεσματικά τα συναισθήματα της αγάπης και της εκδίκησης