Tête-d'Or: A play in three acts

audiobook

Tête-d'Or: A play in three acts

by Paul Claudel

EN·~3 hours·7 chapters

Chapters

7 total

TÊTE-D'OR

0:12

Dedication

2:40

Dramatis Personae

0:36

Place

0:06

Act I

26:15

Act II

1:52:48

Act III

1:11:19

Description

A lyrical drama opens on the bleak, frost‑kissed fields at winter’s end, where a lone peasant named Simon Agnel hauls a woman’s lifeless form on his shoulder while clutching a spade. He encounters the bewildered Cébès, a newborn soul wrestling with questions of purpose, identity, and the weight of silence. Their exchange is drenched in poetic imagery—whispers of wind, the scent of blossoms, and the distant hum of a plough—drawing listeners into a world where the ordinary and the mythic blur.

From this stark beginning, the play promises a sweeping journey that will carry the characters from the open countryside into the ornate halls of a king’s palace and then across the desolate wastes of the Caucasus. Themes of destiny, the search for meaning, and the transformative power of the natural world pulse through each scene, inviting the audience to follow Simon’s evolution from a humble laborer to the enigmatic “Tête‑d’or” who may one day claim a throne. The poet‑like language and haunting atmosphere make this a compelling listen for anyone drawn to introspective, richly textured theatre.

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Details

Language

en

Duration

~3 hours (205K characters)

Publisher of text edition

Project Gutenberg

Credits

Produced by Winston Smith. Images provided by the Internet Archive.

Release date

2016-05-16

Rights

Public domain in the USA.

About the author

Paul Claudel

Paul Claudel

1868–1955

A major voice in French literature, he brought poetry, theater, and spiritual intensity together in works that still feel bold and theatrical. He also spent much of his life in diplomacy, giving his writing an unusually wide view of the world.

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