Un chapeau de paille d'Italie (An Italian Straw Hat)
Research Status: Comprehensive Last Updated: 2025-12-07 Diary Coverage: Up to 1873-01-12
Overview
Un chapeau de paille d'Italie (An Italian Straw Hat) is a five-act comedy by Eugène Labiche, written in collaboration with Marc-Michel. It premiered at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris on August 14, 1851, and became one of the most celebrated French farces of the 19th century.
Plot Summary
The play is set in Paris in the mid-19th century, on the morning of Fadinard's wedding day. An absurd crisis occurs: while crossing the Bois de Vincennes, Fadinard's horse eats a straw hat hanging from a tree. Unfortunately, the hat belonged to Anaïs Beauperthuis, who was with her vigorous military lover. The lover demands that Fadinard find an identical replacement hat, or face severe consequences - the stakes are high because Anaïs's husband knows the hat well, and she cannot let him discover her infidelity.
To avoid raising suspicions of his future father-in-law, who arrives with the entire wedding party, Fadinard drags them all along on his mad quest. The search takes him to a milliner, who sends him to a baroness, who sends him to the home of the unfaithful woman's husband.
In the final act, after multiple misunderstandings (including the wedding party being arrested as thieves), Fadinard discovers by chance that his deaf uncle Vézinet's wedding gift was an Italian straw hat - the very object he's been searching for. After all the adventures, Anaïs can finally wear it, the jealous husband apologizes, and Fadinard's wedding night can finally begin.
Significance
The play won almost immediate acclaim from both the public and critics - unusual for a farce. It was revived more often than any other of Labiche's plays. When he published his "Complete Works" in 1878, he placed it first in the first volume.
The philosopher Henri Bergson cited the work as an example of a "snowball effect" in his essay Le Rire (Laughter). The plot can be interpreted as an allegory of destiny - Fadinard relentlessly searches for a hat that he already possesses without being aware of it.
Performance Context (1873)
Marie attended a performance at the French Theater of Nice on January 12, 1873, with the famous actor Ravel in the lead role. The play was frequently performed throughout France during the 1870s and would have been familiar to most educated theatergoers.
The farcical nature of this comedy - with its rapid pace, mistaken identities, and absurd situations - contrasted sharply with the dramatic opera Marie had attended the previous evening.
Sources
Research conducted using web sources: The Italian Straw Hat - Wikipedia), Comédie-Française, French literary analysis
%%2025-12-07T15:35:00 RSR: Mentioned in entry 1873-01-12. Also mentioned as "Le chapeau de paille" in the entry. The play was likely performed as a double bill with "La joie de la maison"%%