A selection of crime comedy plays by French playwright Jean-Pierre Martinez, available in English. These contemporary comedies combine crime, mystery and suspense with humour, parody and social satire.
Murders, investigations, suspicious deaths and unexpected revelations provide the framework for absurd situations, eccentric characters and increasingly complicated misunderstandings. The conventions of detective fiction are often turned upside down to create both comic tension and surprising reversals.
Browse the plays below to discover their synopses, cast information, scripts available for reading and information about performance rights.
Involuntary adultery can easily lead to involuntary manslaughter, but getting rid of the body of evidence is a whole different matter…
On Christmas night, two inspectors are on duty, accompanied only by some lost souls no one is waiting for at home. In an unexpected turn of events, the Minister of the Interior makes an appearance at their police station to pay tribute to the dedication of law enforcement. Clearly, things are about to take an unforeseen twist...
Raymond is in a deep coma following an accident on a Boris Bike. His long lost relatives are called to his bedside to decide what to do and avoid prolonged therapeutic interventions. But this collective decision becomes even more difficult when the patient turns out not to be who everyone thought he was. And is the keeper of a secret that could make everyone very rich…
A corpse in a sauna and a plagiarism case... Captain Dupont is assigned to an investigation that appears to be linked to a state affair. Unless it's all just theatre...
Clara is a young violin virtuoso at the height of her fame, while the career of Leo, a pianist somewhat older than she is, lies already behind him. Once her Pygmalion, he is now above all her accompanist and impresario. Today, the couple they form both on stage and in life is in crisis. A quarrel breaks out just as they are about to leave for a concert. For the occasion, a benefactor has agreed to lend Clara a Stradivarius of inestimable value. At that moment, a pair of burglars burst into their living room in a home invasion…
« Age doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese » said Kim Kardashian quoting Luis Buñuel. Life is like a cruise on the Titanic: whether you’re nibbling canapes on the top deck or slurping soup in the hold, at the end of the day we’re all destined to feed the fishes. So, as we wait for the inevitable iceberg, those of us who still can, might as well sit back, enjoy the orchestra and the sound of ice clinking in our glasses. A comedy laced with black humour throughout. The first metaphysical sitcom where the action takes place in an assisted living facility.
The hospital was almost perfect… The crime too. A darkly humorous detective comedy.