The Theater: L'Amour, the Merrier

CHEMIN DE FER

by GEORGES FEYDEAU

The sex farce is not customarily regarded as a genre that falls within the province of dramatic genius. Yet the in spired lunacy of France's Georges Feydeau merits no lesser accolade. Some critics maintain that he wrote the same play 39 times in 35 years (1881-1916). That is only half-true. Feydeau's plots are like the Minotaur's labyrinth, except that they are apoplectically funny. One is led on and on with a zany Cartesian logic, but one can never retrace one's steps and relate the story coherently.

An unaccustomed...