Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (1688-1763) was a French playwright, novelist, and journalist whose work is characterized by an extreme subtlety of language and feeling. This idiosyncratic style was referred to, originally disparagingly though now more respectfully, as Marivaudage. Marie-Nicolas Bouillet writes in her Dictionnaire Universel: It is this that constitutes Marivaudage - a fastidious affectation in the style, a great subtlety in the feelings, and an immense complication in the plots. Marivaux began his career as a journalist and haunter of fashionable salons. In 1720, however, he lost his fortune and quickly produced three plays, two of which, L'Amour et la Verite and Arlequin Poli par l'Amour, were performed by the Comedie-Italienne whilst the third, Annibal, was performed by the Comedie-Francaise. Although Marivaux continued to write for both companies, the majority of his plays were written for the Italian troupe, whose productions proved far more successful, perhaps because they better appreciated the refinements of his style. In the 20th century Marivaux's sophisticated plotting, keen sense of psychological nuance, and strong female roles have gained increasing recognition. Recent decades have seen frequent revivals of his plays by the Comedie-Francaise. For many years it was thought that Marivaux's comedies were virtually untranslatable due to the subtlety of the language, but several of his works have been successfully performed in English since the mid 1970s. Nicholas Wright (b. 1940) opened and ran the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre in 1963, was joint artistic director of the Royal Court and is a former literary manager and associate director of the Royal National Theatre. Wright began acting as a child, and trained at LAMDA. His publications include 99 Plays, a survey of drama from Aeschylus to the present day, and Changing Stages, co-written with Richard Eyre. Both are published by Methuen Drama.
