Fashions for Men, and the Swan: Two Plays by Franz Molnar

Franz Molnár, the Hungarian playwright who gave the world 'The Merry Widow,' turns his sharp eye on matters of the heart and the shop floor in these two early 1920s comedies. 'Fashions for Men' places us in a modest clothing shop where Peter Juhasz and his wife Adele serve Budapest's hungry shoppers. But as Adele serves customers and tends to the business, she finds herself drawn to Oscar, one of her husband's colleagues, an attraction that threatens to unravel her marriage even as she wrestles with what she truly wants. Molnár threads needle-sharp observations about class, desire, and social expectation through this deceptively simple setting, letting the mundane details of fabric and fitting become a stage for something far more dangerous. The companion piece, 'The Swan,' continues in this mode, elegant, witty, and quietly devastating. These are comedies of manners for readers who enjoy their humor with an edge of melancholy, their romance complicated, their social satire wearing a smile.