Monsieur Leotard
That modest leftist, Jules Leotard
2m/1f
He was the original daring young man on a flying trapeze. In order to better perform his acts of athleticism, Jules Leotard encased his gorgeous physique in a flexible, body-revealing costume that set Parisienne hearts aflutter. Soon M. Leotard was not only the nation's top athlete - he was also ravishing half of Paris.
Jules Leotard (the trapezist) was eventually nudged out by other ever-more daring performers. He died in 1870, at the age of 32 - officially of smallpox.
Hd left a small legacy: that sexy outfit eponymously named in his honour - and a very bitter wife. And, if this short play with its execrable rhyming couplets and triplets is to believed, the latter very nearly left him first.
Monsieur Leotard premiered at the 2018 Newmarket National Ten Minute Play Festival, to considerable shock and awe.