The directory «Plots»

Crommelynck Fernand
(1885?—1970)

Fernand Crommelynck was a Belgian dramatist. Himself an actor and coming from a family of actors. He showed even in his earliest works the grasp of style and content which in his maturity created works of great poetic force. In Nous n'irons plus au bois (1906), Le sculpteur de masques (1908) and Le marchand de regrets (1913), the dramatic stucture was already based on the logical development of an absurd premise. Already the characters moved about their Flemish setting immersed in a climate of mingled lyricism and realistic observation, in a richly suggestive fair-story light. But Crommelyncks masterpiece was Le cocu magnifique in 1920, a 'lyrical farce' on the theme of a lover's jealousy. Staged with constuctivist sets by Vselvolod Meyerhold -the first of their kind- it was such a hit that Crommelynck was able to give up acting and devote himself to writing. In Tripes d'or(1926) he satirized the passion for money and the spurious prestige it confers, while in Carine, ou la jeune fille folle de son âme (1929) he contrasted love and sensuality in the story of a chaste young girl who is faithful to her ideals of love to the bitter end. Both language and dramatic technique Crommelynck has been one of the most lyrical and original writers of the 20th centry theatre.

Russia, 2000, Meierkhold and Stanislavsky