Anything To Declare? - Paperback

by Maurice Hennequin (Author), Pierre Veber (Author), Laurence Senelick (Translator)

This classic and hilarious French farce commences when a customs official barges into newlyweds Robert and Paulette's train compartment at a most inopportune moment on their wedding night, rendering the poor fellow impotent. His parents-in-law demand that he consummate the marriage or it will be annulled, and Paulette will marry La Baule instead. Enter Mademoiselle Zeze, a courtesan, and let the games begin. "Panic is the chief ingredient of ANYTHING TO DECLARE?, a 1906 French farce ... as the emergencies mount for a bashful bridegroom, his hypocritical father-in-law, a frustrated former suitor and a de-pantsed camel dealer. Farce, which requires absolute conviction in the face of increasingly absurd circumstances, may be the most fragile of theatrical forms. ANYTHING, by Feydeau contemporaries Maurice Hennequin and Pierre Veber, puts the players through some demanding paces [in] Laurence Senelick's gleefully euphemistic translation ..." -Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle