La Ville dont le prince est un enfant (play)
Encyclopedia
La Ville dont le prince est un enfant is a 1955 play by French dramatist Henry de Montherlant
. The title, literally translated, The City Whose Prince is a Child, is taken from Ecclesiastes
10:16: "Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!"
An amended version would be republished in 1969, little bit after Montherlant's death under the title Les Garçons (literally The Boys), that takes a fresh look on the story with André Sevrait becoming the character Alban de Bricoule, who already served as a double in Montherlant works Le Songe et Les Bestiaires.
directed in 1997 a film entitled La Ville dont le prince est un enfant, also known by its English language
release title The Fire That Burns. In the movie version Malavoy played the role of Abbot of Pradts and Naël Marandin the role of André Sevrais and Clément van den Bergh in the role of Serge Souplier. The film also featured Michel Aumont the role as superior of the school.
, and staged at the London
West End
, at the Mermaid Theatre
in 1977.
However Montherlant would take huge precautions to approach the touchy troubled topic of the taboo subject of friendship between children and adults, especially in a Catholic environment genuinely fearing not to write a text which would devalue the religion as he carefully explained in the long foreword to the play and the appendx published with the part.
Henry de Montherlant
Henry de Montherlant or Henry Marie Joseph Frédéric Expedite Millon de Montherlant was a French essayist, novelist and one of the leading French dramatists of the twentieth century.- Works :...
. The title, literally translated, The City Whose Prince is a Child, is taken from Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes
The Book of Ecclesiastes, called , is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The English name derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title.The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title Qoheleth , introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem." The work consists of personal...
10:16: "Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!"
Progress of the theatrical work
Being one of the first ever works of Montherlant, started in 1912 as a work under the title Serge Sandrier, and continued to be transformed for 4 decades before being published in 1951 and the definitive version in 1967. It was inspired from the adolescent years Montherlant, particularly his formative years in Institution Notre-Dame de Sainte-Croix commonly known as Collège Sainte-Croix de Neuilly in 1912. It represented the life and tribulations of André Sevrais as a young kid in a Catholic school in France.An amended version would be republished in 1969, little bit after Montherlant's death under the title Les Garçons (literally The Boys), that takes a fresh look on the story with André Sevrait becoming the character Alban de Bricoule, who already served as a double in Montherlant works Le Songe et Les Bestiaires.
Plot
Philosophy student André Sevrais attends a Catholic boys' school in Paris, where he becomes fast friends with his younger schoolmate, a little rebellious boy named Serge Souplier. This friendship between the two youngsters does not go unobserved by the Abbot of Pradts, who harbors a secret obsession with Souplier and uses his position of authority to try to handle the adolescent Servais, with the pretext of protecting the youngster Souplier; ultimately, however, he is undone by his own hand.Stage acts
- Montherlant presented the play for the first time in 1952 in GenevaGenevaGeneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
(SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
) through an amateur group of actors, in order to test the public's reaction to the play. - In 1963, the first act of the play was presented at Mathurins Theater, in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, as a curtain raiser for another of his works entitled Fils de personne. - The play was presented in its entirety in 1967 at Michel Theater in Paris, with Paul GuersPaul GuersPaul Guers is a French film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1955 and 1996. He starred in the 1963 film Kali Yug: Goddess of Vengeance.He was born in Tours, France.-Selected filmography:* A Tale of Two Cities...
in the role of Abbot of Pradts, and Didier HaudepinDidier HaudepinDidier Haudepin is a French actor, film producer, director and screenwriter. He has appeared in 44 films and television shows since 1960. His film Those Were the Days was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* Seven Days.....
playing the role of André Sevrais. - A full presentation of the Michel Theatre act was broadcast in 1969 on the first channel of the official French television network Radiodiffusion-Télévision FrançaiseRadiodiffusion-Télévision FrançaiseRadiodiffusion-Télévision Française was the French national public broadcasting organization established on 9 February 1949 to replace the post-war "Radiodiffusion Française" , which had been founded in 1945...
(ORTF). - In 1974, it was staged again at the Mathurins Theater.
- In April 1994 it played again at the Hébertot TheaterThéâtre HébertotThéâtre Hébertot is a theatre at 78, boulevard des Batignolles, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, France. The theatre, completed in 1838 and opening as the Théâtre des Batignolles, was later renamed Théâtre des Arts in 1907...
. In this version, Christophe MalavoyChristophe Malavoy-Selected filmography:* Madame Bovary* Le Cri du hibou* La Balance* A Captain's Honor* Le Voyage en douce* Death in a French Garden-External links:...
played the role of Abbot of Pradts. He also played the role in an adapted television version. - In 2006, yet another version was played at the Théâtre du Nord-Ouest with a remarkable role of Sevrais by Maxime Raoust .
- In 2007, the part is assembled in BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
with the "Comédie Claude Volter" group.
Publications
- 1951 - Paris by Gallimard
- 1952 - Paris by PlonPlönPlön is the district seat of the Plön district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and has about 13,000 inhabitants. It lies right on the shores of Schleswig-Holstein's biggest lake, the Great Plön Lake, as well as on several smaller lakes, touching the town on virtually all sides...
- 1967 - Paris by Gallimard (with reworked definitive text)
- La Pléiade - Volume II, with the outlines of the parts
- 1971 - as Le Livre de pocheLe Livre de pocheLe Livre de Poche is the name of a collection of literature which appeared 9 February 1953 under the leadership of Henri Filipacchi and published by the Librairie générale française, a subsidiary of Hachette.-History:...
(pocket book) - 1973 - Folio (re-edited in 1994)
French film adaptation
Christophe MalavoyChristophe Malavoy
-Selected filmography:* Madame Bovary* Le Cri du hibou* La Balance* A Captain's Honor* Le Voyage en douce* Death in a French Garden-External links:...
directed in 1997 a film entitled La Ville dont le prince est un enfant, also known by its English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
release title The Fire That Burns. In the movie version Malavoy played the role of Abbot of Pradts and Naël Marandin the role of André Sevrais and Clément van den Bergh in the role of Serge Souplier. The film also featured Michel Aumont the role as superior of the school.
English play adaptation: The Fire that Consumes
The play was translated by Vivian Cox with Bernard MilesBernard Miles
Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century....
, and staged at the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, at the Mermaid Theatre
Mermaid Theatre
The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre at Puddle Dock, in Blackfriars, in the City of London and the first built there since the time of Shakespeare...
in 1977.
Issues
The play deals with the complex relations in a Catholic school. The abbot is torn between his human desires and his religious obligations of abstinence. He tells the superior of the college that God has created men more sensitive than the fathers, as they see how these children who are not ours are not loved. He also tells André Sevrais who refuses this fate: "You will smile about this when you are twenty years old"; to which the boy answers: "Not me, I will never smile!". Indeed, Montherlant would be haunted throughout his life with this experience at a young age in 1912 at Collège Sainte-Croix de Neuilly in 1912.However Montherlant would take huge precautions to approach the touchy troubled topic of the taboo subject of friendship between children and adults, especially in a Catholic environment genuinely fearing not to write a text which would devalue the religion as he carefully explained in the long foreword to the play and the appendx published with the part.