description Le Dindon Overview
Le Dindon (The Turkey, also translated as Sauce for the Goose) is a three-act farce by Georges Feydeau that premiered at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris in 1896. The play follows multiple characters caught in escalating schemes of marital infidelity, with plots involving mistaken identities, disguises, and the rapid entrances and exits characteristic of late nineteenth-century French vaudeville theater. Like Feydeau's other works from this period, it constructs a mechanical structure in which each complication triggers the next toward a chaotic resolution.
insights Ranking position
Le Dindon ranks #31 of 161 in the Vaudeville ranking, behind B.F. Keith's Vaudeville Exchange, ahead of Théâtre des Variétés (Paris).
help Le Dindon FAQ
Why is Le Dindon called 'The Turkey' — what does the title mean?
The title translates literally as "The Turkey," and the play is also known in English as "Sauce for the Goose." The metaphor refers to the central theme of cuckolding: the male characters are simultaneously pursuing other men's wives while being cuckolded themselves, making each man a "dindon" — both a turkey and, colloquially, a dupe.
Where and when did Le Dindon premiere?
The play premiered at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris in 1896, during the peak decade of Feydeau's productivity as a farceur. The Théâtre du Palais-Royal was one of the primary venues for boulevard comedy and farce in late nineteenth-century Paris.
How does Le Dindon compare to Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear?
Both are three-act full-length farces from Feydeau's mature period (A Flea in Her Ear premiered in 1907, about a decade after Le Dindon), and both deploy the characteristic Feydeau mechanism of mistaken identities and escalating misunderstandings. Le Dindon is distinguished by its focus on marital infidelity across three separate couples whose plots interlock in the second act.
Is Le Dindon performed in English?
English translations and adaptations have been produced under titles including "Sauce for the Goose" and "The Turkey." It appears in collected editions of Feydeau's works and is staged occasionally by theater companies specializing in classical European farce, though less frequently than A Flea in Her Ear.
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