colette (1873-1954). Lot n° 42

MANUSCRIT in part autograph, signed "Colette Willy", En camarades, pièce en deux actes, Villa Belle Plage, Le Crotoy (Somme) [1907]; 56 pages in-fol. of which 34 autograph. Complete manuscript of this comedy, written and performed by Colette. This comedy in two acts was first performed at the Théâtre des Arts on January 22, 1909, as a supplement to the program, with Colette in the role of Fanchette, then revived at the Comédie-Royale, rue Caumartin, from February 5 to March 1, 1909, and again in February 1912 at the Théâtre Michel; it was published in Le Monde illustré théâtral et littéraire, No. 13, in 1947. The first act, comprising 22 pages including the title page and the list of characters, is in the hand of a copyist, with a few additions and corrections in the author's pen and pencil; the second act (34 pages) is entirely autograph. The piquant plot features a couple who, in the first act, seem to be living in good companionship, the husband Max quietly flirting with Marthe, a friend of his wife Fanchette, and Fanchette with her "Gosse", a handsome young man. In the second act, however, Fanchette having found the Gosse at his home, they become embarrassed, and the arrival of the furious husband precipitates stormy explanations and a return to good bourgeois order, not without irony... Among the few corrections, let us note this oversight, in the second act: Colette wrote the name "Claudine", before correcting it to "Fanchette"... Comœdia illustré (15 February 1909) praised "this natural charm, this bold truth of a terrible child" that Colette had put into her play. Enclosed is the programme for the Théâtre des Arts, for the premiere of En camarades; an autogr. from Willy to Arsène Durec (interpreter of the role of Max); an envelope from Sarah Bernhardt addressed to Durec; an invitation card from Mrs. Colette Willy, to the dress rehearsal of the play; and a note a.s. from Colette to Dr. Jeanne Luys regarding a signature, Librairie du Siècle May 5, 1934.