Overview

A Ridiculous costume comedy set in the Parisian court of Henry III and his mother, Catherine De' Medici. The Duke of Guise plots with Catherine to rid France of Protestants, and the resultant St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre raises the ire of Henry and his trusted, mincing minions, St. Muggeroon, Epernoun, and Joyeuse. With the help of Catherine's astrologer, Ruggieri, Muggeroon makes love to the Duchess of Guise, which only increases the Duke's blood lust. Based in part on Dumas pere's Henri III et sa cour—perhaps second in popularity on the French stage only to Camille, by Dumas fils—Isle of the Hermaphrodites deals a comic death blow to religious and sexual prejudice.