Queens Of France
by Thornton Wilder

Name: Queens Of France
Brand: Thornton Wilder
SKU: 9780573624322
Rating: 3.18 (51 reviews)

Queens Of France Book Cover — Queens Of France Cover

Highlights

Small Cast

Female

Male

One Act30 mins19th CenturyEnsemble CastInterior SetElaborate/High-Volume CostumesAmerican Comedy

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.

Humorous and entertainingEngaging performancesInteresting short storyHard to follow at timesPoor translation and layout

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	Gender	Age	Description
M’Su Cahusac a lawyer	—	—	a lawyer
Madame Pugeo a plump little bourgeois	—	—	a plump little bourgeois
Mamselle Pointevin a spinster	—	—	a spinster
Marie–Sidonie Cressaux an attractive young woman	female	—	an attractive young woman