Le Cocu magnifique
Le Cocu magnifique is a Belgian play by Fernand Crommelynck, first published in 1921. It was performed in the Netherlands for the first time on November 15, 1956, by the Utrechtse Studenten Toneel Vereniging. The translation was by Krijn Prince, and the play was directed by Jack Dixon.
The story follows Bruno, the village scribe who writes love letters for the uneducated villagers and is married to Stella, a beautiful and devoted wife. Bruno’s clever speech helps him exaggerate situations, and his paranoia grows. He becomes convinced that the only way to relieve his fear of being cuckolded is to know for sure that he is one. So he offers Stella to his best friend and, when that fails, to all the young men in the village. This strange plan upsets the town, and the women threaten Stella while the villagers turn against Bruno.
Vsevolod Meyerhold’s 1922 production introduced a new style called Constructivism. It moved away from traditional stage framing and used simple, functional scenery to suggest the setting rather than create illusion. The set included a framework, rotating wheels to imply machinery, and a windmill to show the location. The design was easy to dismantle and reassemble, even for outdoor performances. A large black rotating disc with the letters CR-ML-NCK referenced the writer Crommelynck and synchronized with the action on stage.
Meyerhold’s staging is seen as opening a new era of constructivist and biomechanical theatre, where movement and space matter more than elaborate scenery.
The Magnanimous Cuckold, or Il magnifico cornuto, is also the title of a 1965 Italian film directed by Antonio Pietrangeli, adapted from the play. The Jewish-German composer Berthold Goldschmidt based his 1932 opera Die Gewaltige Hahnrei on Crommelynck’s work; when the Nazis came to power a year later, Goldschmidt moved to Britain, where he stayed until his death.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:14 (CET).