the belle vue
the belle vue 1

Michael Sheldon Ann Firbank

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“Ödön (Edmund) von Horváth was born in 1901. He was the son of a diplomat working for the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
and by the time he was eighteen he had lived and been educated in half a dozen different places (including Belgrade,
Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest and Munich). He said later that he always felt most at home with refugees, travellers,
the stateless and the rootless. He was not even a native in his own language: he spoke Hungarian at home, German at
school and university....”
“[Nick] Philippou has done the author proud with the zest of his production”
“...a Viennese trifle, with some of the bonbons spiked with poison”
“Blisteringly funny... Recommended”
“...theatre at its most compelling, and the performances are faultless throughout”
“Ann Firbank makes a glorious mixture of the original Norma Desmond and very late Bette Davis”
“Nick Philippou’s production reeks of decay and dishonesty... but weaves an enigmatic spell”
copyright 2004