L'Aigle à deux têtes
Encyclopedia
L'Aigle à deux têtes is a French play in three acts by Jean Cocteau
, written in 1943 and first performed in 1946. It is known variously in English as The Eagle with Two Heads, The Eagle Has Two Heads, The Two-Headed Eagle, The Double-Headed Eagle, and Eagle Rampant. Cocteau also directed a film of his play
which appeared in 1948.
Cocteau said that he took his inspiration for the play from the separate stories of Ludwig II of Bavaria
and of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria
. Ludwig was found drowned in Lake Stamberg in Bavaria in circumstances which have never been satisfactorily explained. Elisabeth was stabbed in the heart by an assassin
while out walking in Geneva. For his portrait of the Queen, Cocteau drew upon the portrait of Elisabeth given by Remy de Gourmont
in his Promenades littéraires. He was also concerned to create characters which called for a grand style of acting in a tradition which he saw as being in decline in French theatre. The performances of Edwige Feuillère
and Jean Marais
in the first French production were an essential part of Cocteau's conception of the play.
Act 1 takes place in the Queen's bedroom at Krantz: evening.
Act 2 is set in the castle library: the next morning.
Act 3 is again in the library: the following morning.
, directed by Jacques Hébertot. The cast included Edwige Feuillère
as the Queen, Jean Marais
as Stanislas, Silvia Monfort
as Édith de Berg, and Jacques Varennes as the Comte de Foëhn. Costumes were by Christian Bérard
, sets by André Beaurepaire, and Georges Auric
wrote the "Hymne royal" which is heard at the end of the play. The production continued at other theatres in Paris in 1947.
An English version of the play was made by Ronald Duncan
under the title The Eagle Has Two Heads. It was first performed at the Lyric Hammersmith in London on 4 September 1946, with Eileen Herlie
as the Queen and James Donald
as Stanislas. It was directed for the Company of Four by Murray Macdonald. (Ronald Duncan described his version as an "adaptation" rather than a translation.' Cocteau was unhappy with this English version, calling it "preposterous".)
The first New York production was staged at the Plymouth Theatre on 19 March 1947, with Tallulah Bankhead
as the Queen and Helmut Dantine
as Stanislas. According to Cocteau, Bankhead made her own alterations to the play, and the production was a flop.
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
, written in 1943 and first performed in 1946. It is known variously in English as The Eagle with Two Heads, The Eagle Has Two Heads, The Two-Headed Eagle, The Double-Headed Eagle, and Eagle Rampant. Cocteau also directed a film of his play
The Eagle with Two Heads
The Eagle with Two Heads is a French film directed by Jean Cocteau released in 1948. It was adapted from his own play L'Aigle à deux têtes which was first staged in 1946, and it retained the principal actors from the first Paris production.-Synopsis:On the 10th anniversary of the assassination of...
which appeared in 1948.
Cocteau said that he took his inspiration for the play from the separate stories of Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II was King of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death. He is sometimes called the Swan King and der Märchenkönig, the Fairy tale King...
and of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria
Elisabeth of Bavaria
Elisabeth of Austria was the spouse of Franz Joseph I, and therefore both Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. She also held the titles of Queen of Bohemia and Croatia, among others...
. Ludwig was found drowned in Lake Stamberg in Bavaria in circumstances which have never been satisfactorily explained. Elisabeth was stabbed in the heart by an assassin
Luigi Lucheni
Luigi Lucheni was an Italian anarchist who assassinated the Austrian Empress, Elisabeth of Bavaria , in 1898...
while out walking in Geneva. For his portrait of the Queen, Cocteau drew upon the portrait of Elisabeth given by Remy de Gourmont
Remy de Gourmont
Remy de Gourmont was a French Symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars...
in his Promenades littéraires. He was also concerned to create characters which called for a grand style of acting in a tradition which he saw as being in decline in French theatre. The performances of Edwige Feuillère
Edwige Feuillère
Edwige Feuillère was a distinguished French stage and film actress....
and Jean Marais
Jean Marais
-Biography:A native of Cherbourg, France, Marais starred in several movies directed by Jean Cocteau, for a time his lover, most famously Beauty and the Beast and Orphée ....
in the first French production were an essential part of Cocteau's conception of the play.
Synopsis
On the 10th anniversary of the assassination of the king, his reclusive widow, the Queen, arrives to spend the night at the castle of Krantz. Stanislas, a young anarchist poet who seeks to assassinate her, enters her room, wounded; he looks exactly like the dead king, and the Queen shelters him instead of handing him over to the police. She sees him as the welcome embodiment of her own death, calling him Azraël (the angel of death). An ambiguous love develops between them, uniting them in a bid to outwit the machinations of the court politicians, represented by the Comte de Foëhn, the chief of police, and Édith de Berg, the Queen's companion. In order to remain true to their ideals and to each other, the Queen and Stanislas have to play their parts in a bizarre private tragedy, which the world will never understand.Act 1 takes place in the Queen's bedroom at Krantz: evening.
Act 2 is set in the castle library: the next morning.
Act 3 is again in the library: the following morning.
Dramatic analysis
Cocteau was interested in juxtaposing two characters who represent opposite ideas, a queen with an anarchist temperament and an anarchist with royalist sympathies, and who depart from those identities as they interact with each other as human beings. Other themes which recur elsewhere in Cocteau's work are the poet's obsession with death, and the fulfilment of love in death (Orphée, Le Sang d'un poète, L'Éternel Retour).Productions
The play was first performed at the Théâtre Royal des Galeries in Brussels in October 1946, followed by some performances in Lyon. The first Paris performances took place in November 1946 at the Théâtre HébertotThéâtre Hébertot
Théâtre Hébertot is a theatre at 78, boulevard des Batignolles, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, France. The theatre, completed in 1838 and opening as the Théâtre des Batignolles, was later renamed Théâtre des Arts in 1907...
, directed by Jacques Hébertot. The cast included Edwige Feuillère
Edwige Feuillère
Edwige Feuillère was a distinguished French stage and film actress....
as the Queen, Jean Marais
Jean Marais
-Biography:A native of Cherbourg, France, Marais starred in several movies directed by Jean Cocteau, for a time his lover, most famously Beauty and the Beast and Orphée ....
as Stanislas, Silvia Monfort
Silvia Monfort
Silvia Monfort was a French actress and theatre director. Daughter of the sculptor Charles Favre-Bertin and wife of Pierre Gruneberg....
as Édith de Berg, and Jacques Varennes as the Comte de Foëhn. Costumes were by Christian Bérard
Christian Bérard
Christian Bérard , also known as Bébé, was a French artist, fashion illustrator and designer.Bérard and his lover Boris Kochno, who directed the Ballets Russes and was also co-founder of the Ballet des Champs-Elysées, were one of the most prominent openly homosexual couples in French theater during...
, sets by André Beaurepaire, and Georges Auric
Georges Auric
Georges Auric was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault. He was a child prodigy and at age 15 he had his first compositions published. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and under the composer Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum...
wrote the "Hymne royal" which is heard at the end of the play. The production continued at other theatres in Paris in 1947.
An English version of the play was made by Ronald Duncan
Ronald Duncan
Ronald Duncan was a writer, poet and playwright, now best known for preparing the libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia, first performed in 1946....
under the title The Eagle Has Two Heads. It was first performed at the Lyric Hammersmith in London on 4 September 1946, with Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie was a Scottish-American actress.-Life and career:Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to a Catholic father and a Protestant mother in Glasgow, Scotland, and was one of five children. Herlie was trained as a theatre actress. Among her West End London theatre successes were The...
as the Queen and James Donald
James Donald
James Donald was a Scottish actor. Tall and thin, he usually specialised in playing authority figures.Donald was born in Aberdeen, and made his first professional stage appearance sometime in the late-1930s, having been educated at Rossall School on Lancashire's Fylde coast...
as Stanislas. It was directed for the Company of Four by Murray Macdonald. (Ronald Duncan described his version as an "adaptation" rather than a translation.' Cocteau was unhappy with this English version, calling it "preposterous".)
The first New York production was staged at the Plymouth Theatre on 19 March 1947, with Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
as the Queen and Helmut Dantine
Helmut Dantine
Helmut Dantine was a film actor remembered for playing many Nazis in thriller films of the 1940s. The Vienna-born actor appeared uncredited in Casablanca early in his career .Dantine's father was the head of the Austrian railway system...
as Stanislas. According to Cocteau, Bankhead made her own alterations to the play, and the production was a flop.
Adaptations
- L'Aigle à deux têtesThe Eagle with Two HeadsThe Eagle with Two Heads is a French film directed by Jean Cocteau released in 1948. It was adapted from his own play L'Aigle à deux têtes which was first staged in 1946, and it retained the principal actors from the first Paris production.-Synopsis:On the 10th anniversary of the assassination of...
(1948) was Cocteau's own film of his play, using the same principal actors from the Paris stage production. - L'Aigle à deux têtes (1975) was a French TV version of the play, directed by Pierre Cavassilas.
- Il mistero di Oberwald (1981) was a film of the play directed by Michelangelo AntonioniMichelangelo AntonioniMichelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
.