A selection of black comedy plays by French playwright Jean-Pierre Martinez, available in English. These darkly funny contemporary plays explore death, misfortune, morality, social hypocrisy and the absurdity of human behaviour.
Black comedy finds humour in subjects that conventional comedy often avoids. Through irony, reversals and deliberately uncomfortable situations, it uses laughter to expose contradictions in society and in human nature.
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…
When two candidates in a local by-election cremate their spouses on election day, conditions are rife for spoiled ballots and stray bullets. Especially when the funeral director’s newly hired temp has a mind of her own… English translation: Anne-Christine Gasc
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…
Jack has organized a small gathering to honour the ashes of his recently departed grandfather. However, due to a mistake by the Funeral Services, his own name appears on the obituary...
Stanley's cremation is scheduled for 3:35 PM precisely. Only a handful of close relatives are attending the ceremony since the dearly departed left few cherished memories. But, as they say, authors live on through their work. And this funeral may just turn out to be Stanley's greatest comedy ...
Hitman is a little-known profession, but one of public utility, and very much a career for the future, especially in times of crisis. At a café table, characters from this noble trade cross paths with clients whose motives are as varied as they are surprising. And you? If you could eliminate just one person on this earth with impunity, would you do it? And who would you choose ?
On New Year’s Eve, a man is on duty at the Forensic Institute. One hour before midnight, a woman appears in front of him, covered only by a sheet. She doesn’t know who she is or where she comes from. And what was shaping up to be a deadly dull New Year’s Eve at the morgue turns out to be full of surprises… A comedy with multiple twists and turns, absurdly romantic and darkly humorous.
Lying on a hospital bed, a man, having lost his memory due to a life-saving surgery, encounters a parade of the women from his past whom he can no longer remember. Could one of them be the love of his life?
Contemporary fables about the world as it is going… and, above all, as it is not going. Through a series of seemingly self-contained short sketches that nevertheless echo one another, strangely human animals and men on the verge of losing their humanity question their troubled existence and their uncertain future. A political yet humorous reflection on the fragility of the human condition and on the dangers that threaten our democracy today.
In a café across the street from a hospital, a decidedly odd landlord serves and observes the fate of his customers looking for hearts to steal… for a transplant or even a relationship.
Sketches… to die of laughter
Following a hearse accident, the arrival in a typical French café of a coffin, which turns out to contain a winning lottery ticket, provides the pretext for a highly spirited comedy.
The cemetery of Beaucon-le-Château is fully occupied. To accommodate new deceased, an extension would be required. However, the owner of the adjacent park stubbornly refuses to give up even the smallest plot. Faced with this urgent situation, the mayor takes a radical step: from now on, dying will be strictly forbidden within the town’s limits, under penalty of prosecution...