Colombe (play)


Colombe is a play in four acts by French dramatist Jean Anouilh, written in 1950, created at the Théâtre de l'Atelier on February 10, 1951, in a mise-en-scène, set and costumes by André Barsacq and published in 1951 at Éditions de la Table ronde in Pièces brillantes.

Plot summary

A large self-centred actress lacking maternal fibre must face the return of her son Julien, who is intransigent and jealous of his brother Armand who his mother always babied. He refused any special favours in order to escape his three years of military service that awaited him, so he leaves his young, naïve and submissive wife Colombe. The mother decides to hire Colombe at the theatre. The woman would jump with joy, happy at becoming her own woman, and would break up with Julien.

Théâtre de l'Atelier, 1951

After January 19, 1996, at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées.
At the 2010 Molière Award, Anny Duperey was nominated for Best Actress, Fabienne Chaudat for Best Supporting Actor and Pascale Bordet for Best Costumes.
The presentation of May 15, 2010 was broadcast live on France 2.

BBC adaptation

In 1960 the BBC adapted Colombe for television which was broadcast as an episode of the anthology drama series BBC Sunday-Night Play on January 17, 1960 on BBC Television. It started Françoise Rosay as Madame Alexandra, Dorothy Tutin as Colombe, Freda Jackson as Madame Georges, Sean Connery as Julien, Richard Pasco as Paul, Newton Blick as Desfournettes, Joseph O'Conor as Lagarde, Peter Sallis as Robinet, Patrick Wymark as Surette, Renny Lister as a Manicurist, Michael Mara as a Chiropodist, Roger Ostime as a Hairdresser, Patrick Blackwell and William Thomley as Stagehands.