Number One

Jean Anouilh's sharp and witty new play, which enjoyed a season at the Queen's Theatre, London, centres around the ageing, gout-stricken and passe playwright Leon Saint-Pe, as he struggles manfully to being a new play, provisionally entitled Les Miserables, despite the constant interruptions and selfish demands of his utterly egocentric family and friends. A master of the art of dramatic contrivance, Anouilh displays his usual stylish blend of cynicism and subtle irony when he has Leon, eventually deciding that everyone on earth is wholly self-centred, rechristen his play, Number One.5 women, 5 men