1. V. 2.0 refers to the Budapest production version of the play which contains three cuts in the text. These cuts were implemented by the author to facilitate a single-act version of the play. I have elected to present the original two-act version here and not to exclude the three cut sections. I have, instead, indicated their places in the text with notes in brackets. i.e. (Production cut to/from page xx, line zz.)
2. Because of the formal form of speech found in European languages, the natives of the play often address Verlaine and Rimbaud in the third person. I have deliberately used this technique to make it apparent that French is not their mother-tongue. If, however, this approach proves cumbersome during the course of rehearsals, all such addresses should be changed to the second person.
3. The following translations of the works of Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud have been incorporated in this work:
Paul Verlaine: "I was a Mystic..." (Je Fus Mystique...) Translated by Joanna Richardson "Verlaine, Selected Poems", Penguin Books, 1974
Paul Verlaine: "At Boarding School" (Pensionnaires) Translated by Alan Stone "Royal Tastes, Erotic Writings of Paul Verlaine", Harmony Books, 1984
Arthur Rimbaud: Letter to Paul Verlaine. London, July 5, 1873 Translated by Paul Schmidt "Arthur Rimbaud, Complete Works", Harper and Row Publishers, 1967
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