Playwright David Ives owns up to adapting this predictable period play into a surprising contemporary romp because he fell in love with the title. The Metromaniacs (or La Métromanie if the original French helps). What does it mean? You know what? It doesn’t matter. Here’s what you need to know: if you know a lot about period drama — French or otherwise — you will be tickled with this... Read more


Red Bull Theater presents the New York premiere of The Metromaniacs, written by David Ives and directed by Michael Kahn, who previously collaborated on French comedy adaptations The Heir Apparent (in 2011) and The Liar (in 2010).
(Photos by Carol Rosegg)
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It's springtime in Paris, 1738. Metromania, the poetry craze, is all the rage. Damis, a young, would-be poet with a serious case of verse-mania falls for a mysterious poetess from Breton, Meriadec de Peaudoncqville (say it). She turns out to be none other than a wealthy gentleman (yes, that’s right) with a touch of the mania himself—looking to unload his sexy but dimwitted daughter—who also just happens to be cuckoo for couplets. Soon scheming servants, verbal acrobatics, and mistaken identities launch a breathless series of twists and turns in this breezy “transladaptation” of a rediscovered French farce by comedic master David Ives.