Chantecler (play)

Chantecler is a verse play in four acts written by Edmond Rostand. The play is notable in that all the characters are farmyard animals including the main protagonist, a chanticleer, or rooster. The play centers on the theme of idealism and spiritual sincerity, as contrasted with cynicism and artificiality. Much of the play satirizes modernist artistic doctrines from Rostand's romanticist perspective.

Rostand was inspired to write the play after spending time in the farm country around his home in the south of France, where he had moved for health reasons after the phenomenal success of Cyrano de Bergerac and L'Aiglon. Although he began writing the play in 1902, its completion was repeatedly delayed due to Rostand's perfectionism and illnesses. Rostand originally intended Benoît-Constant Coquelin, known as "Coq", who had created the role of Cyrano de Bergerac, to portray Chantecler. But Coquelin died of a heart attack in 1909 (clutching, it was said, a copy of the script of Chantecler).

The play finally premiered on 7 February 1910 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, with Lucien Guitry in the title role. The play was not initially successful, due, in Rostand's opinion, to Guitry's uninspired performance, but also because the sophisticated Parisians in the audience realised their way of life was being criticised. A revival in 1927, starring Victor Francen, was more successful. A notable British production was Terence Gray's final production at the Cambridge Festival Theatre in 1933 before he terminated his ownership of the theatre. An experienced actor Wilfred Walter played Chantecler, and the cast included most of the Festival's actors of the day, including Doria Paston, Gilson MacCormnack, Noel Iliff, the dancer Sara Patrick and the next director of the theatre, Joseph Gordon Macleod. The design was by Paston with costumes by Hedley Briggs and choreography by Sara Patrick, with music by Walter Leigh.

The play made its American debut on Broadway in 1911, featuring Maude Adams in an adaptation by Louis N. Parker. Chantecler has recently been revived in France, with several performances since 1984.

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