Fernand Crommelynck
Encyclopedia
Fernand Crommelynck was a Belgian
dramatist. He was born into a family of actors, the child of a French mother and a Belgian father and he himself was also an actor
. His work is known for farces in which commonplace weaknesses are developed into monumental obsessions.
In his earliest works Crommelynck already demonstrated the grasp of style and content that in his maturity culminated in works of great poetic force. The dramatic structure in Nous n'irons plus au bois (1906), Le sculpteur de masques (1908) and Le marchand de regrets (1913), was already based on the logical development of an absurd premise.
Crommelynck's masterpiece was Le Cocu magnifique (1920), a 'lyrical farce' on the theme of a lover's jealousy. Staged with constuctivist sets by Vselvolod Meyerhold - the first of their kind - the theatre
play was such a hit that Crommelynck was able to give up acting and devote himself to writing. In Tripes d'or (1926) he satirized the passion for money and the spurious prestige it confers, while in Carine, ou la jeune fille folle de son âme (1929) he contrasted love and sensuality in the story of a chaste young girl who is faithful to her ideals of love to the bitter end.
Both in language and dramatic technique, Crommelynck has been one of the most lyrical and original writers of the 20th century theatre.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
dramatist. He was born into a family of actors, the child of a French mother and a Belgian father and he himself was also an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. His work is known for farces in which commonplace weaknesses are developed into monumental obsessions.
In his earliest works Crommelynck already demonstrated the grasp of style and content that in his maturity culminated in works of great poetic force. The dramatic structure in Nous n'irons plus au bois (1906), Le sculpteur de masques (1908) and Le marchand de regrets (1913), was already based on the logical development of an absurd premise.
Crommelynck's masterpiece was Le Cocu magnifique (1920), a 'lyrical farce' on the theme of a lover's jealousy. Staged with constuctivist sets by Vselvolod Meyerhold - the first of their kind - the theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
play was such a hit that Crommelynck was able to give up acting and devote himself to writing. In Tripes d'or (1926) he satirized the passion for money and the spurious prestige it confers, while in Carine, ou la jeune fille folle de son âme (1929) he contrasted love and sensuality in the story of a chaste young girl who is faithful to her ideals of love to the bitter end.
Both in language and dramatic technique, Crommelynck has been one of the most lyrical and original writers of the 20th century theatre.
Select Works
- Le Sculpteur des masques (1908)
- L'Histoire de Minna Claessens (Alfred Machin, 1912)
- L'agent Rigolo et son chien policier (Alfred Machin, 1912)
- Le Marchand de regrets (1913)
- Maudite soit la guerre (Alfred Machin, 1914)
- Le Cocu magnifique (drama)' (1921)
- Les Amants puérils (1921)
- Tripes d'or (1930)
- Le Cadavre n° 5 (Gaston Schoukens, 1932)
- Une Femme qu'a le cœur trop petit (1934)
- Chaud et froid (1936)