French Without Tears

French Without Tears
French Without Tears
	Kay Hammond & Roland Culver in the original Criterion Theatre production, 1936
Written by	Terence Rattigan
Date premiered	1936
Original language	English
Genre	Comedy

French Without Tears is a comic play written by a 25-year-old Terence Rattigan in 1936.

Setting

It takes place in a cram school for adults needing to acquire French for business reasons. Scattered throughout are Franglais phrases and schoolboy misunderstandings of the French language.

The play was inspired by a 1933 visit to a village called Marxzell in the Black Forest, where young English gentlemen went to cram German.

Reception

The play was a success on its London debut, establishing Rattigan as a dramatist. A critic thought it "gay, witty, thoroughly contemporary ... with a touch of lovable truth behind all its satire."^[1]

It ran for over 1,000 performances in London, and over 100 in New York.^[2] It also established Rex Harrison as a major star.

Original production

The play, directed by Harold French, opened on 6 November 1936 at the Criterion Theatre, London, with the following cast:^[3]

Alan Howard - Rex Harrison
Brian Curtis - Guy Middleton
Commander Bill Rogers - Roland Culver
Diana Lake - Kay Hammond
Jacqueline Maingot - Jessica Tandy
Kenneth Lake - Trevor Howard
Kit Neilan - Robert Flemyng
Lord Heybrook - William Dear
Marianne/t/o Jacqueline Maingot - Yvonne Andre
Monsieur Maingot - Percy Walsh

Adaptations

A film version, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Ray Milland, was released in 1940.^[4] In 1960 Rattigan himself refashioned the work as the musical Joie de Vivre but it was not a success.^[5]

A television production was featured in the Saturday Playhouse TV series on 7 June 1958, with Denholm Elliott, Elvi Hale, Colin Broadley, Nicholas Parsons, and Andrew Irvine^[6] and another in the BBC's Play of the Month series on 16 May 1976, starring Nigel Havers, Anthony Andrews and David Robb.^[7]

A radio version directed by Gerry Jones was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 25 December 1986, repeated on 14 May 1989 and 20 July 1992.^[8]

References

^ "French Without Tears by Terence Rattigan, Kay Hammond & Roland Culver". vam.ac.uk.
^ "Terence Rattigan". terencerattigan.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
^ "Production of French Without Tears - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
^ "French without Tears". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012.
^ Wright, Adrian (2012). West End Broadway : the Golden Age of American musical in London. Woodbridge, England: Boydell & Brewer. p. 163. ISBN 9781843837916.
^ Saturday Playhouse; Episode 12: French Without Tears (7 June 1958), IMDb.com. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
^ Play of the Month; French Without Tears (16 May 1976), bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
^ "The Afternoon Play: French Without Tears". BBC.

External links

French Without Tears at the Internet Broadway Database

This article on a play from the 1930s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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[1] "French Without Tears by Terence Rattigan, Kay Hammond & Roland Culver". vam.ac.uk.

[2] "Terence Rattigan". terencerattigan.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.

[3] "Production of French Without Tears - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.

[4] "French without Tears". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012.

[5] Wright, Adrian (2012). West End Broadway : the Golden Age of American musical in London. Woodbridge, England: Boydell & Brewer. p. 163. ISBN 9781843837916.

[5-6] Saturday Playhouse; Episode 12: French Without Tears (7 June 1958), IMDb.com. Retrieved 10 March 2017.

[BBCFWT1976-7] Play of the Month; French Without Tears (16 May 1976), bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2014.

[8] "The Afternoon Play: French Without Tears". BBC.

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v t e Works by Terence Rattigan
Plays	First Episode (1933) A Tale of Two Cities (1935) French Without Tears (1936) After the Dance (1939) Follow My Leader (1940) Grey Farm (1940) Flare Path (1942) While the Sun Shines (1943) Love In Idleness (1944) The Winslow Boy (1946) The Browning Version (1948) Harlequinade (1948) Adventure Story (1949) Who Is Sylvia? (1950) The Deep Blue Sea (1952) The Sleeping Prince (1953) Separate Tables (1954) Variation on a Theme (1958) Ross (1960) Man and Boy (1963) A Bequest to the Nation (1970) In Praise of Love (1973) Before Dawn (1973) All on Her Own (1974) Cause Célèbre (1975/77)
Films and TV	The Belles of St. Clements (1936) Gypsy (1937) French Without Tears (1940) Quiet Wedding (1941) The Day Will Dawn (1942) Uncensored (1942) English Without Tears (1944) The Way to the Stars (1945) While the Sun Shines (1947) Brighton Rock (1947) Bond Street (1948) The Winslow Boy (1948) The Browning Version (1951) The Sound Barrier (1952) The Final Test (1953) The Man Who Loved Redheads (1955) The Deep Blue Sea (1955) The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) Separate Tables (1958) Adventure Story (1961) Heart to Heart (1962) The V.I.P.s (1963) The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) Nelson (1966) Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) Bequest to the Nation (1973) The Browning Version (1994) The Winslow Boy (1999) The Deep Blue Sea (2011)
Related works	Joie de Vivre (1960) The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963)