Les Avariés

Synopsis

The three-act play follows George Dupont, a 26-year-old engaged man. In the first act, a doctor informs Dupont he has syphilis and urges him to postpone his marriage until cured, which at the time would have required three to four years of mercury-based treatment. Dupont rejects the advice and marries his fiancée, Henriette. The second act occurs later, after Henriette has given birth.

Their sickly newborn was sent to the country under the care of George's mother, but the baby's health worsens and is brought home. The same doctor arrives and advises relieving the wet nurse to prevent her contracting illness from the baby. Dupont offers the nurse money to stay, which she accepts. The doctor then announces the baby has congenital syphilis and threatens to inform the nurse if she remains; the nurse learns the diagnosis from a butler and refuses to continue.

Henriette overhears and falls to the floor screaming. In the third act, set in a hospital, Henriette's father, politician Monsieur Loche, confronts the doctor and seeks a divorce, asking for a signed statement attesting to Dupont's diagnosis. The doctor refuses, citing patient confidentiality. Loche argues for a law mandating premarital medical examination, but the doctor disagrees, advocating instead for education and open discussion to end stigmatization of syphilis.

Themes

Eugène Brieux had been writing morally didactic social-problem plays since 1890. He identified "the problem of the position of Woman in modern society" as a leitmotif and aimed to awaken society to the mistreatment of women. Damaged Goods was seen as a rebuke of the Victorian double standard of sexual morality, which tolerated men's sexual activity with prostitutes while expecting women to remain chaste. The play illustrates the concept of "innocent infections" (syphilis insontium), where venereal disease spreads to wives and children, shifting the perception from deserved punishment to harm inflicted on innocent victims.

Production history

Brieux was initially prevented from staging the play in Paris by censors, but in 1902 he was allowed a private reading at the Théâtre Antoine. Les Avariés was staged at Montreal's Théâtre des Nouveautés in 1905, admitting only men. The first US productions were produced by the Sociological Fund, led by Edward L. Bernays, which raised $11,000.

Actor Richard Bennett played George Dupont and also served as producer. The first performance, a special matinee for Sociological Fund members, took place on March 14, 1913, at the Fulton Theatre on Broadway. A special performance for President Woodrow Wilson, his cabinet, and Congress occurred on April 6, 1913, at the National Theatre in Washington DC. The public premiere was on May 14, 1913, at the Fulton Theatre, running for 66 performances, far exceeding the planned 14.

Bennett then toured the play across the country. Stock theatre companies staged it, including a June 1914 production by William Fox's Academy of Music Stock Company in New York. A brief Broadway revival in May 1937 at the 48th Street Theatre was poorly received and lasted eight performances. The first English performance was on February 16, 1914, at London's Little Theatre, privately produced by the Authors' Producing Society and sponsored by the Society for Race Betterment.

Controversy

Theatre historian Gerald Bordman called Damaged Goods "unquestionably one of the most powerful and most controversial dramas of its era." Its frank discussion of syphilis was shocking, as sexually transmitted disease was taboo. The New York Times, in a positive review of the 1913 Broadway production, euphemistically referred to the subject as a "rare blood disease" and "a subject which hitherto has practically been confined to medical publications." Damaged Goods was the first play staged in the United States to use the word "syphilis." The American production mitigated controversy through its association with the journal Medical Review of Reviews and the approval of John D. Rockefeller and the mayor of New York.

Did You Know?

• Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote a preface to the book Three Plays By Brieux, stating: 'No play ever written was more needed than Les Avariés.'
• An English novelization of the play, also titled Damaged Goods, was published by Upton Sinclair in 1913 with the approval of Brieux.