Anatol, comedy, adaptation

by Joe PRAML

Arthur Schnitzler, a Jewish Viennese playwright who influenced Sigmund Freud, wrote Anatol in 1892. It takes place in fin de siècle Vienna, a time of repressed sex and class consciousness. It is a sensual comedy about the eternal male-female wars. Anatol is a young, handsome Viennese Don Juan. He exerts his charm and high social position in the pursuit of the perfect affair with seven women in seven episodes...

Arthur Schnitzler, a Jewish Viennese playwright who influenced Sigmund Freud, wrote Anatol in 1892. It takes place in fin de siècle Vienna, a time of repressed sex and class consciousness. It is a sensual comedy about the eternal male-female wars. Anatol is a young, handsome Viennese Don Juan. He exerts his charm and high social position in the pursuit of the perfect affair with seven women in seven episodes. These vividly drawn women toy with Anatol as much as he toys with them. After Elsa leaves, Anatol says to himself "Just one more. How stupid it all is." He meets his match with Ilona. Anatol is the ultimate loser.

read more
  • Inquire About Rights
  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Library

Anatol, comedy, adaptation

Two males. Seven females.

ANATOL: Handsome, well-off, young Viennese Don Juan. Describes himself as a "melancholic philosopher" and a "hypochondriac of love."

MAX: Anatol’s wiser, older friend, penetrating critic. Important recurring character in five scenes. Voice of sanity in Anatol's life.

CORA: Young, pretty, energetic, possessing pert boldness.

GABRIELLE: Elegant married lady, bourgeois, 30s/40s, confident pampered aura of the well-to-do. Contemptuous of Anatol's "sweet young girl" from the "other side of the city line."

BIANCA: Trick rider of horses in a circus, witty, loves to gossip, an erotically attractive athletic girl in mid-20s. Forthright plebeian manner but not crude.

EMILIE: Tall, lithe, refined; these assets have lifted her from her dubious origins and past.

ANNIE: Direct, striking woman, attractive, an appealing coarseness. Ballet dancer with the Vienna Opera.

ELSA: 30-ish married woman, thwarting matronliness, pretty rather than beautiful.

ILONA: Actress, mid-20s, wild feral beauty confident in her allure; whiff of danger clings about her like a gossamer wrap.