Boulevard theatre is by definition popular art, separate and below major plays of either romantic or realist movements, with no outstanding dramatist to speak of.
Yet some interesting plays live on, mostly comedies, because of popular enthusiasm for the theatre in Paris throughout the 19th century. A basic element in all farce is fear, which motivates character movements Parshall, p Frigid husbands, shrewish wives, ill-assorted spouses make of marriage Illicit love is no better- unless one is young and just learning the pleasures of the flesh, as Maxime does Mathieu stutters when it rains and is reduced to silence by a storm Like Ionesco In the pathetic and sometimes touching portrait of the Pinchards, she deaf, he something of a satyr, we see what the future holds in store even for those couples who stick together Vatelin is cruelly satirized as the typical nouveau riche bourgeois- an unimaginative mediocrity with neither taste nor style In "The lady from Maxim's", a "reminiscence of Massuccio's well-known Italian novella, Feydeau combines with the more usual confusion of an uncle who mistakes the dancer for the wife of the physician, and insists that both shall accompany him to his chateau in Touraine.
Here the dancer passes to another lover, and is presently supposed by a third person to be the wife of the uncle. So errors accumulate, and the laughter grows, the first act alone keeping the audience convulsed for an hour" Chandler, pp Consequently, he tries his best to remedy the situation before his wife can discover it. Feydeau, however, does not let him escape so easily.
Though mostly a peak of the boulevard type, "The lady from Maxim's" has elements of the higher comedy of manners. The latter He did use several rules of thumb which Sophocles, Shakespeare, Moliere, and other great masters used. One rule is: never let the audience feel tricked; therefore, never let it see the strings attached to the puppets; make the spectator believe in the freedom of the characters by audaciously introducing characters who must, by rights, never meetβ¦In La Dame de chez Maxim's he was faced with perhaps the most difficult problem of this kind in all of his work, how to confront the real Mrs Petypon with Crevette whom the general believes to be the real Mrs Petypon.
Feydeau solved it with two words: "Aunt! While asleep, the subconscious of all characters takes over In the case of the Petypons, for instance, they reveal unfulfilled desires, frustrations, and even deep dissatisfaction with life. Surprisingly, Gabrielle, in all appearances a prudish woman who divides her time between being a model wife, an exceptional hostess, and doing many good deeds, dreams of love and passion, as does Emile, their servant who, still not totally awake, embraces Gabrielle passionately Petypon is In the second act, Feydeau takes the opportunity to present a tableau of provincial manners.
