{"product_id":"the-belle-vue-9781870259736","title":"The Belle Vue","description":"\u003cp\u003eHorváth's setting for this black political farce is a seedy hotel in Central Europe in the 1920s where the only guest is a drunken, ageing nymphomaniac - wealthy and despotic. Under her sole occupancy the hotel is falling apart and sliding even deeper into decadence. There is no future and no hope until a young woman arrives with a fortune to spend. What follows is a riot of confusion and mistaken identities, satirising the despair and futility of a continent poised on the brink of fascism. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHorváth (1901-1938) was accidentally killed in Paris after fleeing from the Nazis. \u003ci\u003eThe Belle Vue\u003c\/i\u003e, one of 16 plays, was not performed until 1969. This translation marked the British premiere, in a production by the Actors Touring Company.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMcLeish, Kenneth:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKenneth McLeish\u003c\/b\u003e studied Classics and Music at Worcester College, Oxford. Once a full-time translator, author and dramatist, he published extensively including \u003ci\u003eThe Good Reading Guide\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eShakespeare's People, The Theatre of Aristophanes, Companion to the Arts in the Twentieth Century, Myth, The Listener's Guide to Classical Music and Crucial Classics\u003c\/i\u003e (both with Valerie McLeish) and \u003ci\u003eThe Bloomsbury Guide to Human Thought\u003c\/i\u003e (as general editor).\u003cbr\u003eHis original plays and his translations - from ancient Greek drama, as well as from Strindberg, Ibsen Moliere and Strindberg - have been widely performed, most notably by the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.\u003c\/p\u003e\"","brand":"Oberon Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50874002014482,"sku":"9781870259736","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_55086a05-f7f9-40c2-9213-f739d060c707.jpg?v=1737979368","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-belle-vue-9781870259736","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}