Horváth's setting for this black political farce is a seedy hotel in Central Europe in the 1920s where the only guest is a drunken, ageing nymphomaniac – wealthy and despotic. Under her sole occupancy the hotel is falling apart and sliding even deeper into decadence. There is no future and no hope until a young woman arrives with a fortune to spend. What follows is a riot of confusion and mistaken identities, satirising the despair and futility of a continent poised on the brink of fascism.
Horváth (1901–1938) was accidentally killed in Paris after fleeing from the Nazis. The Belle Vue, one of 16 plays, was not performed until 1969. This translation marked the British premiere, in a production by the Actors Touring Company.
