Jean Anouilh was born in Bordeaux in 1910. He studied law briefly at the Sorbonne and then became a copywriter for an advertising agency. In 1931 he became secretary to the actor-manager, Louis Jouvet, and his first play, The Ermine, was staged the following year. Antigone firmly established his popularity in France in 1944, and Peter Brook's 1950 production of Ring Round the Moon in Christopher Fry's translation made his name in England. His best-known plays are: Restless Heart (1934); Dinner with the Family, Traveller without Luggage (both 1937); Thieves' Carnival (1938); Leocadia (1939); Point of Departure (Eurydice) (1941); Romeo and Jeannette (1945); Medea (1946); Ardele (1948); The Rehearsal (1950); Colombe (1951); The Waltz of the Toreadors (1952); The Lark (1953); Ornifle (1955); Poor Bitos (1956); Becket (1956); The Fighting Cock (1966); Dear Antoine (1971); The Director of the Opera (1973); Number One (1981). Twice married, he lived mainly in Switzerland for the last thirty years of his life. Anouilh died in 1987. Jeremy Sams has translated for many productions for the National Theatre, ENO and Royal Opera House. He has directed numerous plays at the National Theatre, in the West End and on Broadway, and is a multi-award-winning composer, arranger and musical director. Peter Meyer's translations of four one-act plays by Feydeau (as From Marriage to Divorce) and Thirteen Monologues (six by Feydeau, seven by Cocteau) are also published by Oberon Books.
