Georges RIBEMONT-DESSAIGNES (1884-1974). Autograph manuscript signed, Arc-en-ciel, [1926]; 12pages in-4 in blue ink on fine paper (small tear without missing repaired on first leaf, foxing on last, qqs ff slightly faded). Rare manuscript of a Dadaist play premiered on May 2, 1926 at the Théâtre des Mathurins during the Galas Bériza, with music by Jean Wiener, and staging and sets by Ladislas Medgyes. An excerpt appeared in Cahiers du Sud no. 86 (January 1927). The play was published in Dada2, a collection of texts by Ribemont-Dessaignes, by Jean-Pierre Bégot (Paris, Champ Libre, 1978). This one-act play features four characters: Ophelia, "Wax Figure"; David, "Astronomer"; M. Coeur, "Hairdresser"; Barbara, "David's Wife"; and several silent roles: one half of a dancer, a second half of a dancer, a whole dancer, an old woman, passers-by and hunters. Marguerite Bériza played Ophelia and Orane Demazis was Barbara. The play is both zany and poetic, quite "Dada". Astronomer David points his telescope at the hairdresser's window and discovers Ophélie, "a wax mannequin representing an ideal woman"; Ophélie in turn discovers him: "They gaze at each other ardently. Men pass by and stop to look at the mannequin". The hairdresser appears: "he throws stones at passers-by, who move away". To dissuade them from returning, he sets a wolf trap, and David resumes his celestial contemplation. It's at this point that the dancers enter the scene: "A woman has appeared in the shadows, she's naked, but you can only see the right half of her body. She's dancing. Then another naked woman in the same conditions, whose visible half is the one on the left, begins to dance. Finally, the two halves come together. All that remains is one complete woman, still dancing. A bouquet of flowers blooms in the sky. Clouds pass. The dancer rises and disappears behind the clouds. Ophelia's face appears in its place and begins to sing. People with umbrellas pass in the street. The moon has replaced Ophelia's face. A ray of light illuminates the window of Mr. Coeur's store, where Ophelia is illuminated. We see Ophelia jump from her pedestal. She leaves the store, breaking the glass". As she leaves her window, she gets caught in the wolf trap. Barbara quarrels with David and then with Ophelia. The two women fight. Barbara manages to escape. Ophelia and David exchange tender words until Barbara returns. Armed with a razor, she cuts off her husband's head. Hearing a noise, Mr. Coeur fires a shot that hits Barbara. Then the hunters arrive, surrounding Ophelia "with tumult, and leaning in eagerly. Trumpets. Great fanfare. As David's head flies up to heaven, the hunters carry Ophelia on their shoulders like a dead beast"...