COCTEAU (Jean) Paris, 21 November 1944... Autograph letter signed to Jean Loup Simian. 1 p. in-4 (27 x 20,6 cm), ink on paper, headed with Jean Cocteau's address. Cocteau opens up to his art critic friend Jean Simian about the difficulties he is encountering with his play Renaud et Armide, first performed at the Comédie-Française on 13 August 1943. In particular, he stressed the difficulty of choosing actors, mentioning the loss of Jean Marais in the role of Renaud. "Nothing is more difficult than finding these four very heavy roles. When I had Marais, I no longer had an Armide. If I find an Armide - which I doubt - there's Marais in the Leclerc army. Cocteau planned to offer Marais the lead role, but he set one condition: the actor had to improve his acting by joining the Comédie-Française. The promise was kept and Marais became a resident, but he soon left the cast and joined General Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division in August 1944. His role was given to Maurice Escande, whose performance was praised by the press, even if it did not prolong the life of the play, which was accused of being cold and artificial. Some brown spots. Provenance : Briscardieu sale, 13 June 2015, lot 623. Bibliography: Jean Marais, L'inconcevable Jean Cocteau, 1993, p. 103.