Overview

M. Ghelderode proves himself in this play to have been the precursor of all the avant-garde writers of modern France, including Ionesco and Genet. His "sad farce" depicts an innocent pamphleteer, Pantagleize, caught up in a revolution. His assignment is to go to the bank, take the money from the heavily guarded vault, and bring it to the conspirators. It's one of the funniest scenes on record, with a general who is all bluster and a bluff wide. He returns to the revolutionaries with the money, only to find that his beloved has been killed by the sneaky secret policeman who shadows him throughout the play and carries his own flower pots and ferns for disguise. The revolution fails, and all the cohorts are summarily judged and executed, together with Pantagleize himself. Nothing is quite what it seems in this play, and a new surprise greets every scene as our hero bumbles on. Beneath it all is Ghelderode's biting attack on militarism.

NOTICE: Please be advised, this title is from the Samuel French Vault and is made from a scan of an archived manuscript. We hope you’ll treasure this glimpse into theatre history.