Second-Empire France - October 1862

In 1848, the Year of Revolutions throughout Europe, the French National Guard turned against King Louis Philippe who abdicated to make way for a provisional government of liberal tendencies with a more radical socialist wing.

However, after a period of confusion and civil war in Paris, reaction triumphed and Louis Napoleon, nephew of the great emperor, became President of the Republic. The Second French Republic quickly completed its transition into an avowed personal dictatorship and in 1852 the President became Emperor Napoleon III. During La Belle Epoque, as the Second Empire became labelled. France saw an extraordinary literary and artistic renaissance at home and extensive colonial expansion abroad. However. the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and France's swift defeat brought the downfall of the dynasty and the establishment of the Third Republic. David Pownall's play is set in 1862, at the height of La Belle Epoque.