83:. There is a mirror on the left wall and at stage rear a white horse, protruding from a niche. As the play begins Orpheus is trying to interpret a message that the horse is tapping out with his hoof. Eurydice expresses her jealousy for the supernatural nag who takes so much of her husband's time. Orpheus angrily replies that the horse brings him phrases from the unknown that are more astonishing than all the poems in the world. The poem the horse taps out for Orpheus reads "Madame Eurydice Reviendra Des Enfers" ("Madam Eurydice Will Come Back From Hell"). Orpheus enters the poem in a contest but the judges are infuriated because the initial letters of the words spell "MERDE" (English:
94:. Returning, Orpheus decides to rescue her from death. Instructed by the angel Heurtebise, he passes through the mirror and brings Eurydice back to life, but life together is impossible as he is not allowed to look at her. The Bacchantes return to harass Orpheus, claiming he has submitted an obscene poem. Orpheus is decapitated and Eurydice leads him back through the mirror. The angel puts Orpheus's head on a pedestal, where, in answers to questions from the police, it announces it is Jean Cocteau and gives Cocteau's address, 10
61:. While contemporary critics called the work "superficial," it has later been called "a brilliantly conceived homage to the supernatural". Cocteau later, rather loosely, adapted the play to the better known film
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The play was the first major work for the theater written by
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643:Notre-Dame-de-Jérusalem, Fréjus
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397:The Eagle with Two Heads
110:, Abbeville Press 1984
496:La Princesse de Clèves
360:Opium: Diary of a Cure
669:Plays by Jean Cocteau
480:Les Enfants terribles
421:La Villa Santo-Sospir
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352:Les Enfants terribles
285:Les Parents terribles
237:Le Gendarme incompris
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121:Oxenhandler, page 134
622:Jean Cocteau: A Life
429:Testament of Orpheus
389:Beauty and the Beast
317:L'Aigle à deux têtes
261:The Infernal Machine
679:Plays about Orpheus
633:Jean Cocteau Museum
539:Le Bœuf sur le toit
504:Thomas the Impostor
381:The Blood of a Poet
301:La Machine à écrire
293:Les Monstres sacrés
648:The Orphic Trilogy
628:Jean Cocteau House
269:L'École des veuves
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590:Oedipus rex
96:rue d'Anjou
79:'s home in
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663:Categories
163:, page 195
102:References
92:Bacchantes
151:, page 28
44:Jean Hugo
582:Antigone
472:Ruy Blas
77:Eurydice
67:(1950).
609:Related
413:Orpheus
325:Bacchus
245:Orpheus
64:Orpheus
55:Orpheus
21:Orpheus
601:(1927)
593:(1927)
585:(1927)
566:(1946)
558:(1924)
550:(1921)
542:(1920)
534:(1917)
531:Parade
526:(1912)
507:(1965)
499:(1961)
491:(1951)
483:(1950)
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467:(1945)
459:(1943)
451:(1943)
432:(1960)
424:(1952)
416:(1950)
408:(1948)
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384:(1932)
363:(1930)
355:(1929)
347:(1928)
328:(1951)
320:(1946)
312:(1943)
304:(1941)
296:(1940)
288:(1938)
280:(1937)
272:(1936)
264:(1934)
256:(1930)
248:(1926)
240:(1921)
85:"SHIT"
81:Thrace
27:Orphée
336:Prose
229:Drama
71:Plot
38:and
87:).
665::
168:^
98:.
50:.
205:e
198:t
191:v
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