The police comedy or crime comedy blends comedy with a criminal plot often accompanied by an investigation. The humor arises from the wacky nature of the crime or offense in question and its protagonists, as well as the equally wacky character of the detectives leading the investigation.
An innocent little murder
Critical but stable
White Coats Dark Humour
Just like a Christmas movie
Neighbours’ Day
Christmas Eve at the police station
In flagrante delirium
Backstage comedy
As its name suggests, romantic comedy is a subtle blend of pure sentimental romance and humorous sitcom. It is therefore a love story that starts off poorly and ends more or less well, exploiting all the elements of humor in the transition from the initial situation to the final situation.
The sentimentality of this type of comedy is not limited to the romantic aspect in the strict sense (the quest or reconquest of a soulmate), but also includes all other possible dimensions of familial love (resolving family conflicts, reestablishing strained relationships, and even rediscovering lost family members).
The humor in this type of comedy is also less pronounced than in pure sitcoms, and it is never completely disconnected from the sentimental plot. The aim is to evoke smiles rather than bursts of laughter, as the emotion is never far away.
Romantic comedy Lire la suite »
The dramatic comedy or dramedy combines the lightness of humour with the weight of tragedy. This marriage between the contingency of comic accidents and the permanence of a dramatic fate results in a dark humour. While the characters are grappling with a purely comedic situation, they each reveal, through their way of dealing with it, the irreducible fractures that characterise and constrain them. While comedy generally has a happy ending, in dramatic comedy, the characters are predestined, like in tragedy, although their fate is less calamitous. As for contemporary french theatre, notable masters of dramatic comedy include the duo Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri (with works such as « Family Resemblances » or « Kitchen and Outbuildings »), Yasmina Réza (« Art » or « God of Carnage »), and Nathalie Sarraute (« For no Good Reason »).
Cheaters
Open Hearts
Family portrait
The rope
The Rebels
Such a Lovely Village
Translation by the author
After being dumped once again, Fred swore to his best friend that no girl would sleep over at his place until the end of the year. A few months later, he is on the verge of winning his bet and the hefty cheque that came with it. But on the eve of Christmas, one is never safe from a surprise gift…
This text is available to read for free. However, an authorization is required from the author prior to any public performance, whether by professional or amateur companies. To get in touch with Jean-Pierre Martinez and ask an authorization to represent one of his works CONTACT FORM
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The song from the play. Lyrics and music Jean-Pierre Martinez. This song may be used as part of a stage production, simple request to the author and without any additional fees. The audio file is available upon request, subject to prior authorization from the author for the use of the play’s text.
When Love Turns a Lie into Truth
Attention fragile begins with a very simple comic premise. After a string of failed relationships, Fred bets his friend Sam that no woman will spend the night at his place before the end of the year. With only a few days left, however, he receives an unexpected delivery: instead of the refrigerator he was expecting, a young woman emerges from the box and claims to have fled Belarus. The bet suddenly takes on a different dimension: if Fred is to keep his word, he must throw out a woman who says she is in danger.
The situation gradually becomes more complicated and turns the comedy into a genuine game of deception. Natacha is actually Charlotte, an actress hired by Sam to make Fred lose his bet. But Fred quickly realises that he is the victim of a set-up and decides to play a part of his own. From then on, each believes they are manipulating the other while willingly allowing themselves to be drawn into the fiction. Sam thought he had written the script; his characters eventually escape his control.
This is where the play goes beyond the simple mechanics of boulevard comedy. Charlotte plays Natacha, Fred plays the man who believes in Natacha, and the play written by Sam mirrors the story they themselves are living. Theatre thus becomes the driving force of the love story: each hides behind a role, each pretends to believe, until the game begins to produce very real feelings.
The title then takes on a broader meaning. “Attention fragile” initially refers to the refrigerator box, but then to what is at stake between the characters: trust, desire and feelings. A lie invented to win a bet ends up creating a genuine relationship. The final line sums up this idea with simplicity: when two people choose together to believe in the same fiction, it may eventually become their truth — and perhaps even a definition of love.
Fragile, handle with care Lire la suite »
We speak of « play within the play » when the play, scene, skit or sketch has as its theme the theatrical performance itself.
This can lead to a « mise en abyme » (self referentiality): during the play, the stage becomes, for a time, the theatre for another play performed by some of the actors, and to which the other actors playing the role of the audience attend. Shakespeare (Hamlet) and Molière (L’Impromptu de Versailles) both used this technique.
One can also witness a subversion of the codes and conventions of traditional theatre: the fourth wall is broken, the actors play themselves and speak of their personal problems by directly addressing the audience and engaging them; the author, director, stage manager or even the spectators intervene in the show; the actual people, space and time of the performance become the characters, location and time of the show, to the point that the actual spectators eventually no longer know what is fiction and what is reality.
Is there a pilot in the audience ?
Is there an author in the audience?
Heads or tails
The performance is not cancelled
Is there a critic in the audience?
Back to stage
In flagrante delirium
Backstage comedy
The deal
The Pyramids
Play within the play Lire la suite »
Inaugurated by Eugène Ionesco with The Bald Soprano, Theatre of the Absurd portrays the difficulty of man to match the world he lives in with the grid of interpretation he would like to impose on it. However, there are multiple ways to bring out the comedy of this impossibility for reason to subject reality. Between a world devoid of a priori sense and humanity in search of an illusory meaning to its existence, opens up the bottomless pit of nonsense and absurdity. An absurd statement is a statement that does not account for reality, an absurd behavior is a behaviour that has no control over it.
Crisis and Punishment
Him and Her, Interactive Monologue
The Costa Mucho Castaways
Crash Zone
Stories and Prehistories
Stories to Die For
Not even dead
Like a fish in the air
The Pyramids
Happy Dogs
Offside
Theatre of the absurd Lire la suite »
I don’t really know what children’s theater is, and to be honest, I don’t subscribe to the idea that one should write specifically for children. What interests children in theater is what allows them to escape the childish world in which they are sometimes confined, in the illusory goal of protecting them. Conversely, theater is primarily aimed at adults who have kept a childlike soul: the ability to dream, to be moved and to be amazed.
It is obvious that some plays, not specifically written for children, are more likely to suit them and please them than others. But it is up to the children themselves to decide, with the help of their facilitators or teachers. And fortunately, their choices sometimes surprise us. Moreover, when we talk about theater for children, what age group are we referring to? Pre-teens and other adolescents, who are ultimately only young adults, do not necessarily have the same tastes and concerns as younger children.
I don’t know if I have written plays for children. In any case, if I have, it was not deliberate, to address this particular audience. However, I do notice that some of my plays are more often performed by children or teenagers than others. This is especially true for my comedy sketches, as they do not require a lot of memorization and concentration over a long period of time, and because they generally rely on an absurd humor that children, in their great wisdom, are very sensitive to.
Sometimes, more surprisingly, plays featuring very adult characters, even elderly people, who are anything but heroes or role models. Children also like to imitate adults, to make fun of their flaws and ridiculousness, which of course do not escape them. So let us allow our children at the theater the pleasure of laughing with us, and even better, of laughing at us.
Translation by the author
Three people who do not know each other are summoned to participate in a jury. At least, that’s what they were told. But the place where they have been gathered is not a courtroom. They learn that they are there to decide together how to manage the consequences of an inevitable catastrophe that will strike the world in the very near future. Opinions diverge, and numerous twists and turns keep the debate alive. Throughout this immersive performance, the audience will also be called upon to express their opinions to guide them in their choices, so that they can make the best possible decision to face the worst imaginable situation.
This text is available to read for free. However, an authorization is required from the author prior to any public performance, whether by professional or amateur companies. To get in touch with Jean-Pierre Martinez and ask an authorization to represent one of his works CONTACT FORM
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The song from the play. Lyrics and music Jean-Pierre Martinez. This song may be used as part of a stage production, simple request to the author and without any additional fees. The audio file is available upon request, subject to prior authorization from the author for the use of the play’s text.
Just a moment before the end of the world Lire la suite »
Translation by the author
A well-known film director and an ambitious actress happen to meet on the Eurostar, seated opposite each other. Both are headed to London for an audition. She is willing to do anything to land the role that will make her a star. He is drawn to her charm but is unsure about taking it further… Suddenly, the train stops in the middle of the Channel Tunnel. The breakdown trick? But in this game of trickery, he is not who she thinks he is. Nor is she who he thought she was…
This text is available to read for free. However, an authorization is required from the author prior to any public performance, whether by professional or amateur companies. To get in touch with Jean-Pierre Martinez and ask an authorization to represent one of his works CONTACT FORM
| DOWNLOAD PDF FOR FREE  |
The song from the play. Lyrics and music Jean-Pierre Martinez. This song may be used as part of a stage production, simple request to the author and without any additional fees. The audio file is available upon request, subject to prior authorization from the author for the use of the play’s text.
Euro Star (in english) Lire la suite »
Translation by the author
On a plane, the director of a sensationalist magazine coincidentally meets an embalmer, who claims to have a bombshell news, making her dream of a record-braking circulation. Things get complicated because this encounter takes place on a Paris-Tokyo flight: twelve hours in confinement with no way to communicate with the outside world. Holding a scoop but being unable to publish it… A true Japanese torture!
This text is available to read for free. However, an authorization is required from the author prior to any public performance, whether by professional or amateur companies. To get in touch with Jean-Pierre Martinez and ask an authorization to represent one of his works CONTACT FORM
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The song from the play. Lyrics and music Jean-Pierre Martinez. This song may be used as part of a stage production, simple request to the author and without any additional fees. The audio file is available upon request, subject to prior authorization from the author for the use of the play’s text.
In english (female voice)
In french (male voice)
In french (female voice)
Is there a pilot in the audience ? Lire la suite »
