About the Play:

Ring Round the Moon has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Female Scenes.

Ring Round the Moon (English-language version of L'Invitation au Chateau) is a full-length drama by Jean Anouilh, adapted by Christopher Fry. Set at a glamorous society dance in 1950s France, the play revolves around a pair of identical twins who could not be more different, and the romances they respectively pursue. An outstanding success in England and in New York. An unusually fresh sophisticated comedy.

Ring Round The Moon brings a poor ballerina to the grand party of Fredric and Hugo, two wealthy twins and their old aunt who tries to control them. Set in a romantic French garden, the story centers on the twin brothers. When one brother thinks his twin is entering a loveless marriage, he plans an evening of charades to save his sibling. In the style of classic romantic comedy, all four characters are enveloped in the rules of love, with purity and wealth at odds with each other. What follows is a night of mistaken identities and misguided love affairs with unexpectedly happy results. Filled with charm and sparkling wit, Ring Round the Moon is a lavish romp where fairy-tale dreams come true.

Originally produced in 1947 as L'Invitation au Chateau in Paris, Ring Round the Moon went on to play London at the Globe Theatre in 1950 – commissioned and directed by a young Peter Brook – and then New York at the Martin Beck in a splendid translation by noted British playwright Christopher Fry. The show enjoyed numerous revivals in the West End and on Broadway, has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops, and is regularly performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 6 female, 6 male, 2 extras (doubling)

What people say:

"…an enchanting little fairy tale of laughing…grace, its sentiment masked by cool, brittle, elegant mockery." — The Times (London)

"…[a] lovely and delectable trifle." — New York Herald-Tribune

About the Playwright:

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) is regarded as one of France's best-known dramatists. After completing his early schooling, Anouilh studied law for a short time at the Sorbonne, and then worked as a copywriter at Publicité Damour. Though his career spanned five decades, he is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, a version of Sophocles' classical drama that was seen as a thinly disguised attack on the Nazis and on the Vichy government. One of France's most prolific writers after World War II, much of Anouilh's work deals with themes of maintaining integrity in a world of moral compromise.

Christopher Fry (1907-2005) was an English playwright. One of the most celebrated playwrights of the 20th century, he was one of the few to write successfully in verse leading many to regard him as the Shakespeare of his time for his poetry and wit. His first major success was A Phoenix Too Frequent, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. He is best known for his durable comedy The Lady's Not for Burning. He also wrote or collaborated on several screenplays including the script for Hollywood's 1959 epic motion picture Ben Hur.