Editing Jean Anouilh (section)

==Playwright==
In the 1940s, Anouilh turned from contemporary tales to more mythical, classic, and historic subjects.  With protagonists who asserted their independence from the fated past, themes during this period are more closely related to the existential concerns of such writers as [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] and [[Albert Camus]]. The most famous play of this group is ''Antigone'', which "established Anouilh as a leading dramatist, not only because of the power with which he drew the classic confrontation between the uncompromising Antigone and the politically expedient Creon, but also because French theatre-goers under the occupation read the play as a contemporary political parable."<ref name="Carlson"/> His post-war plays dealt with similar concerns and included ''Roméo et Jeannette'', ''Médée'' (''Medea''), and Anouilh's [[Joan of Arc]] story ''L'Alouette'' (''[[The Lark (play)|The Lark]]''), which, in its distinct optimism, rivalled the commercial success of ''Antigone''.

Anouilh himself grouped his plays of this period on the basis of their dominant tone, publishing his later works in collected volumes to reflect what he felt "represented the phases of his evolution and loosely resembled the distinction between comedy and tragedy."<ref name="Rocchi"/> ''Pièces noires'' or "Black plays" were tragedies or realistic dramas and included ''Antigone'', ''Jézabel'', and ''La Sauvage'' (''The Restless Heart'').  This category typically featured "young,  idealistic, and uncompromising protagonists [who] are able to maintain their integrity only by choosing death."<ref name="Brockett483"/>  By contrast, Anouilh's ''pièces roses'' or "pink plays" were comedies where fantasy dominated with an atmosphere similar to that of fairy tales. In these plays such as ''Le Bal des voleurs'' (''Carnival of Thieves''), ''Le Rendez-vous de Senlis'' (''Dinner with the Family'') and ''[[Léocadia]]'' (''Time Remembered''), the focus is on "the burden of the environment and especially of the past on a protagonist seeking a happier, freer existence."<ref name="Carlson"/>

Most of Anouilh's plays of the late 1940s and into the 1950s become darker and distinctly cruel and, in contrast with his earlier works, begin to feature middle-aged characters who must view life more practically than Anouilh's former idealistic youths. The playwright divided the works of this period into ''pièces brillantes'' ("brilliant plays") and ''pièces grinçantes'' ("grating plays"). The first group includes works such as ''L'Invitation au château'' (Ring Round the Moon) and ''Colombe'', and are typified by aristocratic settings and witty banter. The grating plays like ''[[The Waltz of the Toreadors|La Valse des toréadors]]'' (''Waltz of the Toreadors'') and ''Le Réactionnaire amoureux'' (''The Fighting Cock'') are more bitterly funny, trading clever word play for a darker tone of disillusionment.

Another category Anouilh specifies are his ''pièces costumées'' ("costume plays") which include ''The Lark'', ''La Foire d'Empoigne'' (''Catch as Catch Can''), and ''[[Becket]]'', an international success, depicting the historical martyr [[Thomas Becket]], the Archbishop of Canterbury who sought to defend the church against the monarch (and his friend), [[Henry II of England]], who had appointed him to his see. So classified because they share historical "costumed" settings, Anouilh also specifies that these plays must also prominently feature an enlightened protagonist seeking "a moral path in a world of corruption and manipulation."<ref name="Carlson"/>

Anouilh's final period begins with ''La Grotte'' (''The Cavern''), in which he comments on his own progress as a writer and a theatre artist. The central character is a playwright suffering from writer's block who in his frustration recalls the foibles of [[Luigi Pirandello]]'s ''[[Six Characters in Search of an Author]]''. Anouilh's work had always contained hints of [[metatheatre|metatheatricality]], or commentary on the business of theatre within the world of the play, but in his late works these structures became more fully developed as he begins to write primarily about characters who are dramatists or theatre directors. There is also a pronounced link, during this time, of Anouilh's emphasis of theatre and the family, displaying intimate relationships that are "more profound and more important than the traditional heightened action of 'theatre{{'"}}.<ref name="Carlson"/>{{rp|53}} Antoine, the playwright-protagonist of ''Cher Antoine; ou, L'Amour raté'' (''Dear Antoine; or, The Love That Failed''), asserts that the world must take notice of these ''pièces secrètes'' (secret dramas) and Anouilh scholars have proposed this name, ''pièces secrètes'', to classify the collected works of his latest period."<ref name="Carlson"/>{{clarify|date=October 2016}}<!--one double-quotation mark missing; quotation uncertain.-->