Written in eight opium-sodden days, Jean Cocteau's Les Parents Terribles is a frank, ironic, bruisingly melodramatic play dealing with incest and the diseased love from which it stems. The play was first performed at the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs, Paris, in November 1938. Its run was soon terminated amid accusations of immorality, and the production was transferred to the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in January 1939, where it continued until the outbreak of World War II. This English version by Jeremy Sams was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in 1994, directed by Sean Mathias. This edition of the play includes an introduction by Simon Callow.