PLAY'S THE THING, THE

by Molnar, Ferenc

Molnár plays his audience as you would a musical instrument in this three-act play, adapted from the original Hungarian by P.G. Wodehouse. A famous playwright has to act quickly to save the honour of a lady and the happiness of his young friend. The way in which this is done, Molnár almost asking us to share his creative musings with him, makes for one of the classics of the theatre and gives ample opportunties for comedy in many different forms.
   Written in 1924, The Play’s the Thing was inspired both by Hamlet and by an amusing incident involving Molnár’s third wife, Lily Darvas, who was overheard professing love to a tutor in German, when she was in fact reciting classical German plays to him as she learned the language.