Queens Of France
by Thornton Wilder
Highlights
What readers are saying
Readers have mixed feelings about the play. While many appreciate the humor and the performances, some find the storyline hard to follow and the execution lacking in quality.
Synopsis
In New Orleans in 1869, M'su Cahusac, a charlatan of a lawyer, preys on vulnerable women, convincing each one that she is a legitimate descendant of the long-lost Dauphin, who fled Paris for New Orleans at the age of 10 during the French Revolution.
Therefore, he tells each victim, she is the rightful Queen of France.
Tantalized by visions of wealth, palaces and power, each victim responds in her own fashion to this preposterous revelation, which the lawyer claims is supported by the Historical
Press Reviews
"Queens of France has so rich and gay a theme, and is done with such a superbly delicate, light touch as to make it sheer delight to any reader."
— Fanny Butcher, Chicago Daily Tribune, November 13, 1931
"The pride that goes before the fall. A play that will have the pattern of Queens of France. A 'victim' of a practical joke seen – in four successive persons – in four stages of his delusion."
— Thornton Wilder, journal note on new ideas for plays, May 16, 1960
Characters
| Character |
|---|
M’Su Cahusac a lawyer |
Madame Pugeo a plump little bourgeois |
Mamselle Pointevin a spinster |
Marie–Sidonie Cressaux an attractive young woman |
Videos
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Publication
Queens Of France is a American comedy play written by Thornton Wilder and published by Samuel French in New York (1930).
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Buy Play
Paperback
Samuel French · 1930 · 26 pp
Performance Rights
Restrictions: Major Markets Only (US) / Standard Restriction (UK)
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