Cocteau intended the five roles for specific actors: Yvonne de Bray, Madeleine Ozeray, Gabrielle Dorziat, Louis Jouvet and Jean Marais (and the first two of these lent their first names to the characters).
It then took several months of searching for a theatre before Cocteau made an agreement with Roger Capgras and Alice Cocéa to present the play at the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs in Paris.
[4] Although numerous aspects of the play were cited to support these denunciations, it was the allegation that it portrayed an incestuous relationship between mother and son which caused the greatest controversy.
None of this deterred the public from attending in large numbers, but the play's initial run was brought to an abrupt halt when a proposal to hold a free performance for older children from local schools met with outraged objections.
Yvonne is a reclusive semi-invalid, dependent on her insulin treatment, and intensely possessive of her son (who returns her immoderate affection and calls her "Sophie"); Georges distractedly pursues his eccentric inventions; it is left to Léo to preserve such order as she can in their life and their apartment, which she describes as a "gypsy caravan" ("la roulotte").
After this run was terminated amid accusations of immorality, the production was transferred to the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in January 1939 where it continued until the outbreak of World War II.
In October 1941, during the German occupation of Paris, the play was revived at the Théâtre du Gymnase with its dedicatee Yvonne de Bray appearing in it for the first time.
[6] After the war Les Parents terribles was revived again at the Théâtre du Gymnase in February 1946, and this time found almost the ideal cast that Cocteau had envisaged.
Yvonne de Bray, Gabrielle Dorziat, Marcel André and Jean Marais returned to their roles, and Josette Day took the part of Madeleine.
The director was Sean Mathias, and the cast consisted of Sheila Gish (Yvonne), Frances de la Tour (Leo), Alan Howard (George), Lynsey Baxter (Madeleine), and Jude Law (Michael/Michel).
The same production, under the new title Indiscretions, was presented in New York in 1995 at the Barrymore Theater, again with Jude Law but with different actors in the other roles: Kathleen Turner (Yvonne), Eileen Atkins (Leo), Roger Rees, and Cynthia Nixon.