Monsieur chasse! (Monsieur is hunting!) is a three-act farce by Georges Feydeau, first produced in Paris in 1892. A married man disguises his absences conducting an extramarital affair in Paris as shooting trips in the country, but an evening's chaotic events expose his deception.
The play was Feydeau's first success since his first full-length play, Tailleur pour dames, six years earlier. It ran for 144 performances and has been revived frequently in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Background and first production
In 1886 the 24-year-old Feydeau had a great success with his first full length play, Tailleur pour dames (Ladies' Tailor), but his next five plays had been failures or very modest successes. After a period of studying the works of the earlier comic masters of the 19th century he wrote two new plays in 1892: Monsieur chasse! and Champignol malgré lui (Champignon despite himself) – the latter in collaboration with Maurice Desvallières. The management of the Théâtre du Palais-Royal accepted Monsieur chasse! for production, and it was first presented on 23 April 1892, running for 144 performances, at a time when a run of more than 100 performances was rated as a success for a Parisian theatre.
Original cast
Duchotel – Saint-Germain
Moricet – Perrée Raimond
Cassagne – R. Luguet
Bridois, Commisaire de police – H. Deschamps
Gontran – Marcel Simon
Féru – M. Ferdinand
Agent – M. Greffier
Leontine – Berthe Cerny
Madame Latour – Mme Franck-Mel
Babet – Mlle A. Renaud
Source: Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique.
Plot
Act 1
The scene is the Duchotels' flat in Paris. Duchotel is frequently absent on the pretext of shooting on the country estate of his friend Cassagne. He is, in fact, carrying on an extramarital affair in Paris with Cassagne's wife. Duchotel's wife, Léontine, has an admirer, Dr Moricet, but she refuses to give way to him as long as her husband is faithful to her. Duchotel's young nephew Gontran enters, succeeds in extracting 500 francs from his uncle, and leaves. Duchotel departs, with his guns and luggage, and Moricet hints to Léontine that there may be an ulterior motive for her husband's regular absences.
Cassagne arrives. He is separated from his wife, and has come to Paris to consult Duchotel about obtaining a divorce. He knows that her most ardent adorer is an individual called Zizi, and has taken steps for catching them together in flagrante at the Paris apartment in which they meet. It emerges that Cassagne has not seen Duchotel for six months, and that the latter has never shot over the Cassagne estate. Léontine sees that her husband is deceiving her, and on the spur of the moment she tells Moricet that she will be his the same evening.
Act 2
The scene is an apartment block at 40 rue d'Athènes. As the venue for his rendezvous with Léontine, Moricet has rented furnished rooms previously occupied by a glamorous cocotte, Urbaine des Voitures, who has just been expelled by the concierge, Madame Latour du Nord. The latter is indulgent to extramarital escapades in her rooms, but cannot abide mercenary love. The concierge is unaware that Urbaine has given a key to the apartment to her admirer Gontran. Off the same corridor is another flat, occupied by Madame Cassagne, whose "uncle Zizi" – Duchotel – comes to see her once a month. He has already arrived there when Moricet conducts Léontine through the opposite door. Their conversation is interrupted by the concierge, who hints that a husband "going shooting" is really setting a trap for his unfaithful wife. This frightens Léontine, and her thoughts of revenge vanish, and the putative lovers quarrel so seriously that they decide to spend the night apart, Léontine on a sofa in the next room, while Moricet occupies the bed.
The concierge returns: the woman in the opposite room has had an attack of nerves and perhaps Dr Moricet could treat her. He refuses, and Duchotel himself comes to beg him to help, and is astonished to see his friend. Léontine appears, and on seeing her husband hides her face with a blanket; Duchotel does not recognise her, and takes himself off without suspecting anything. Léontine retires to the other room and Moricet goes to bed again.