Historical Note
by Kevin O’Connell

Joel Gross’s Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh is a work of historical fiction and can be appreciated as such. But if you’re interested in separating fact from fiction, read on.

The backdrop of this play is the years leading up the French Revolution and the beginning of the revolution itself. The causes of unrest were numerous. The bourgeoisie, commoners with money, resented their exclusion from the country’s government. The philosophes, such as Voltaire and Rousseau, had spread the concepts of social reform. The feudal system was dying, and the peasants were not content with their standard of living. Belief in the divine right of kings was fading. Moreover, France was faced with numerous economic crises and was spending much more money than it was taking in. This was exacerbated by Louis XVI’s decision to fund the revolutionaries in America.

Though the story of Elisa, Alexis, and Marie Antoinette is fiction, it reflects the growing tension in France that eventually led to full-fledged war.

Marie Antoinette was, of course, a real person and the Queen of France, as the wife of King Louis XVI. Her mother was the Empress of the Habsburg Monarchy, the only woman to hold that position in her own right. Marie was the subject of countless scurrilous pamphlets, which painted her as an uncaring monarch who was insensitive to and ignorant of the plight of the common people, and who when told the peasants had no bread to eat, replied, “Let them eat cake.” It is true she was a staunch royalist with a penchant for extravagance, but she was likely not the aloof, dismissive despot she was portrayed to be. She gave a tremendous amount of money to charity. And she never said, “Let them eat cake.”

Elisa is also a historical figure, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. She was a renowned French painter, mostly known for portraits, especially those of Marie Antoinette. Her paintings often emphasized her subjects’ positive features while deemphasizing the negative. While not the intimate confidants as portrayed in the play, she and Marie Antoinette were fond of each other. They would often sing together while the queen sat for her portraits. Elisa came from modest means but was a staunch royalist who held the revolutionaries in bitter contempt. She was known for her exceptional beauty and wrote in her memoirs that “some admirers of my face gave me commissions to paint theirs.”

Count Alexis de Ligne is a creation of the playwright. His biography is, however, quite similar to that of Axel von Fersen, a Swedish diplomat and military officer. 

Like Alexis, von Fersen 

• first met Marie Antoinette at a masked ball and spoke to her for some time before realizing who she was;
• was an aristocrat who fought for the colonies in the American Revolution;
• was rumored to be having a romantic relationship with the queen, and perhaps to be the father of some of her children;
• and was fiercely protective of the royal family, devising two failed plans to help them escape.

Mission: Perisphere Theater produces plays that examine personal and collective history and the notion of history itself. 

Vision: A theater experience that gives audiences a greater appreciation of history and of those who are often left out of its retelling. 

Values: Artistic Excellence, Diversity, Antiracism, and Respect

Perisphere would like to thank our generous donors for this season. This work would not be possible without you. We would also like to acknowledge our supporters for this production including the Maryland State Arts Council, the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, University of Maryland - Baltimore County, Theatre Prometheus, The Washington Stage Guild, and the Chisolm family.