Me, Me, Me
by Eugène Labiche and Èdouard Martin, translated by Laurence Senelick

A sardonic comedy about Dutrecy, a man of the most unbridled selfishness, who arranges his life to provide himself maximum comfort.

With a similar friend De la Porcheraie he hopes to acquire land where a new street is to be built, cheating the owner before news gets out.

He also intends to marry his teen-aged niece Therese in hopes she'll be his nurse in his old age.

Meanwhile his nephew Armand has saved the banker's son Georges; bosom friends, each assumes the other loves Therese.

Eventually, everything works out to the satisfaction of the young people and the discomfiture of Dutrecy.“I cannot take human beings seriously.

They seem to me to have been created solely to amuse those who regard them in a certain way.”

—Eugène Labiche“We love these tremendous farces of a formidable joviality and an absurd comic spirit … They constitute an original, spontaneous and profoundly French art.”

—Théophile Gautier“The characters of Labiche, like those of classic comedy, are men of forever, as well as the permanent reflection of their era, their milieu … He doesn’t lose his temper; he laughs with precision and intelligence.”

—Jacques Crépineau“With a force, an insistence, an exactitude which shows the care Labiche took in tracing this portrait, the author of ME, ME, ME succeeds in pinning down his man … ME, ME, ME is one of the best things Labiche ever wrote, one of those in which he shows his true strength …” —Philippe Soupault“A universe in which everything is computations, calculations and frantic cynicism.

ME, ME, ME scratches where it itches most: happiness, immoral but ineffable, is to be selfish to one’s fingertips.

Fie on innocence, fine feelings are to be mocked … This is a celebration of uncompromising selfishness.

Cruel.

Abominable.

But ever so delightful …” —Didier Mereuze