Cocteau, (Clement Eugène) Jean Maurice

Cocteau, (Clement Eugène) Jean Maurice (1889–1963), French dramatist, poet, novelist, critic, artist, and film director, whose manysided activities involved most of the outstanding artists and musicians of his day. As a dramatist he first came into prominence with a new version of Sophocles' Antigone (1922), directed by Dullin in a setting by Picasso. This was followed by Orphée (1924), directed by Pitoëff. In 1934 Jouvet was responsible for the production of another excursion into Greek mythology with La Machine infernale, based on the Oedipus legend. Cocteau's other plays include Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel (1921), an exercise in Surrealism first performed at the Comédie-Française; Les Parents terribles (1938); Les Monstres sacrés (1940), on the nature of the theatrical experience; La machine à écrire (1941), a fairly straightforward thriller; two one-act monologues for an actress—La Voix humaine (1930) and Le Bel Indifférent (1941), written for Piaf; an excursion into Arthurian legend, Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde (1937); a tragic love-story in verse, Renaud et Armide (1943), produced at the Comédie-Française with Marie Bell; and a romantic costume drama, L'Aigle à deux têtes (1946). Although several of Cocteau's plays have been translated into English and performed in London, the only one to achieve commercial success was The Eagle Has Two Heads (1946). It was also seen briefly in New York (1947) with Tallulah Bankhead as the Queen, the part created by Edwige Feuillère. On the whole Cocteau's plays have had less influence outside France than his films and ballets.