Theatre of France

Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas - Jean Bodel - written in

octosyllabic rhymed couplets
Le Miracle de Thophile - Rutebeuf (c.1265)
The origins of farce and comic theatre remain equally
controversial; some literary historians believe in a nonliturgical origin (among jongleurs or in pagan and folk
festivals), others see the inuence of liturgical drama
(some of the dramas listed above include farcical sequences) and monastic readings of Plautus and Latin
comic theatre.
Non-dramatic plays from the 12th and 13th centuries:
Le Dit de l'herberie - Rutebeuf

The French Comedians by Antoine Watteau (c.1720)

Courtois d'Arras (c.1228)

The theatre of France has a long and eventful history

dating back to the Middle Ages.

Le Jeu de la feuill (1275) - Adam de la Halle

Le Jeu de Robin et Marion (a pastourelle) (1288) Adam de la Halle

Historic overview

1.1

Le Jeu du Plerin (1288)

Le Garon et l'aveugle (12661282) - earliest surviving French farce

Secular French Theatre

Discussions about the origins of non-religious theatre

Aucassin et Nicolette (a chantefable) - a mixture of
(thtre profane) -- both drama and farcein the Midprose and lyrical passages
dle Ages remain controversial, but the idea of a continuous popular tradition stemming from Latin comedy and
Select list of plays from the 14th and 15th centuries:
tragedy to the 9th century seems unlikely.
Most historians place the origin of medieval drama in the
churchs liturgical dialogues and tropes. At rst simply
dramatizations of the ritual, particularly in those rituals
connected with Christmas and Easter (see Mystery play),
plays were eventually transferred from the monastery
church to the chapter house or refectory hall and nally to
the open air, and the vernacular was substituted for Latin.
In the 12th century one nds the earliest extant passages
in French appearing as refrains inserted into liturgical
dramas in Latin, such as a Saint Nicholas (patron saint
of the student clercs) play and a Saint Stephen play.

La Farce de matre Trubert et d'Antrongnard Eustache Deschamps

Le Dit des quatre oces de l'ostel du roy - Eustache
Deschamps
Miracles de Notre Dame
Bien Avis et mal avis (morality) (1439)
La Farce de matre Pierre Pathelin (14641469) this play had a great inuence on Rabelais in the 16th
century

Dramatic plays in French from the 12th and 13th centuries:

Le Franc archer de Bagnolet (14681473)

Moralit (1486) - Henri Baude

Le Jeu d'Adam (11501160) - written in octosyllabic rhymed couplets with Latin stage directions
(implying that it was written by Latin-speaking clerics for a lay public)

L'Homme pcheur (morality) (1494)

La Farce du cuvier
1

1 HISTORIC OVERVIEW
La Farce nouvelle du pt et de la tarte

the century, only the Confrres de la Passion remained

with exclusive control over public theatrical productions
In the 15th century, the public representation of plays was in Paris, and they rented out their theatre at the Htel
organized and controlled by a number of professional and de Bourgogne to theatrical troupes for a high price. In
1597,[1] they abandoned this privilege.
semi-professional guilds:
Clercs de la Basoche (Paris) - Morality plays
Enfants sans Souci (Paris) - Farces and Sotties
Conards (Rouen)

Alongside the numerous writers of these traditional works

(such as the farce writers Pierre Gringore, Nicolas de La
Chesnaye and Andr de la Vigne), Marguerite de Navarre
also wrote a number of plays close to the traditional mystery and morality play.

As early as 1503 however, original language versions

of Sophocles, Seneca, Euripides, Aristophanes, Terence
and Plautus were all available in Europe and the next
Genres of theatre practiced in the Middle Ages in forty years would see humanists and poets both translatFrance:
ing these classics and adapting them. In the 1540s, the
French university setting (and especially from 1553 on
Farce - a realistic, humorous, and even coarse satire the Jesuit colleges) became host to a Neo-Latin theatre
of human failings
(in Latin) written by professors such as George Buchanan
and Marc Antoine Muret which would leave a profound
Sottie - generally a conversation among idiots
mark on the members of La Pliade. From 1550 on, one
(sots), full of puns and quidproquos
nds humanist theatre written in French.
Pastourelle - a play with a pastoral setting
The inuence of Seneca was particularly strong in human Confrrie de la Passion (Paris) - Mystery plays

Chantefable - a mixed verse and prose form only ist tragedy. His plays which were essentially chamber plays meant to be read for their lyrical passages and
found in Aucassin et Nicolette
rhetorical oratory brought to many humanist tragedies
Mystery play - a depiction of the Christian mysteries a concentration on rhetoric and language over dramatic
or Saints lives
action.
Morality play
Miracle play
Passion play
Sermon Joyeux - a burlesque sermon

1.2

Renaissance theatre

16th-century French theatre followed the same patterns

of evolution as the other literary genres of the period. For
the rst decades of the century, public theatre remained
largely tied to its long medieval heritage of mystery plays,
morality plays, farces, and soties, although the miracle
play was no longer in vogue. Public performances were
tightly controlled by a guild system. The guild les Confrres de la Passion had exclusive rights to theatrical
productions of mystery plays in Paris; in 1548, fear of
violence or blasphemy resulting from the growing religious rift in France forced the Paris Parliament to prohibit performances of the mysteries in the capital, although they continued to be performed in other places.
Another guild, the Enfants Sans-Souci was in charge of
farces and soties, as too the Clercs de la Basoche who
also performed morality plays. Like the Confrres de
la Passion, la Basoche" came under political scrutiny
(plays had to be authorized by a review board; masks or
characters depicting living persons were not permitted),
and they were nally suppressed in 1582. By the end of

Humanist tragedy took two distinct directions:

Biblical tragedy : plots taken from the bible although close in inspiration to the medieval mystery
plays, the humanist biblical tragedy reconceived the
biblical characters along classical lines, suppressing
both comic elements and the presence of God on the
stage. The plots often had clear parallels to contemporary political and religious matters and one nds
both Protestant and Catholic playwrights.
Ancient tragedy : plots taken from mythology or
history they often had clear parallels to contemporary political and religious matters
During the height of the civil wars (15701580), a third
category of militant theatre appeared:
Contemporary tragedy : plots taken from recent
events
Along with their work as translators and adaptors of plays,
the humanists also investigated classical theories of dramatic structure, plot, and characterization. Horace was
translated in the 1540s, but had been available throughout
the Middle Ages. A complete version of Aristotle's Poetics appeared later (rst in 1570 in an Italian version), but
his ideas had circulated (in an extremely truncated form)
as early as the 13th century in Hermann the Germans

1.2

Renaissance theatre

Latin translation of Averroes' Arabic gloss, and other

translations of the Poetics had appeared in the rst half
of the 16th century; also of importance were the commentaries on Aristotles poetics by Julius Caesar Scaliger
which appeared in the 1560s. The fourth century grammarians Diomedes and Aelius Donatus were also a source
of classical theory. The sixteenth century Italians played
a central role in the publishing and interpretation of classical dramatic theory, and their works had a major effect on French theatre. Lodovico Castelvetro's Aristotebased Art of Poetry(1570) was one of the rst enunciations of the three unities; this work would inform Jean
de la Taille's Art de la tragedie (1572). Italian theatre
(like the tragedy of Gian Giorgio Trissino) and debates
on decorum (like those provoked by Sperone Speroni's
play Canace and Giovanni Battista Giraldi's play Orbecche) would also inuence the French tradition.

3
Cloptre captive (1553)
Didon se sacriant (date unknown)
Mellin de Saint-Gelais
La Sophonisbe (performed 1556) - translation
of the Italian play (1524) by Gian Giorgio
Trissino
Jacques Grvin
Jules Csar (1560) - imitated from the Latin of
Marc Antoine Muret
Jean de la Taille
Sal, le furieux (15631572)
Robert Garnier

Porcie (published 1568, acted in 1573),

In the same spirit of imitation and adaptation of
Cornlie (acted in 1573 and published in 1574)
classical sources that had informed the poetic compo Hippolyte (acted in 1573 and published in
sitions of La Pliade, French humanist writers recom1574)
mended that tragedy should be in ve acts and have three
Marc-Antoine (1578)
main characters of noble rank; the play should begin
La Troade (1579)
in the middle of the action (in medias res), use noble
language and not show scenes of horror on the stage.
Antigone (1580)
Some writers (like Lazare de Baf and Thomas Sbil Les Juives (1583)
let) attempted to link the medieval tradition of moral Nicolas de Montreux
ity plays and farces to classical theatre, but Joachim du
Bellay rejected this claim and elevated classical tragedy
Tragdie du jeune Cyrus (1581)
and comedy to a higher dignity. Of greater diculty
Isabelle (1594)
for the theorists was the incorporation of Aristotles no Cloptre (1594)
tion of "catharsis" or the purgation of emotions with Re Sophonisbe (1601)
naissance theatre, which remained profoundly attached to
both pleasing the audience and to the rhetorical aim of
(See the playwrights Antoine de Montchrestien,
showing moral examples (exemplum).
Alexandre Hardy and Jean de Schelandre for tragedy
tienne Jodelle's Cloptre captive (1553) which tells
around 1600-1610.)
the impassioned fears and doubts of Cleopatra contemplating suicide has the distinction of being the rst Alongside tragedy, European humanists also adapted the
original French play to follow Horace's classical precepts ancient comedic tradition and as early as the 15th cenon structure (the play is in ve acts and respects more or tury, Renaissance Italy had developed a form of humanist
less the unities of time, place and action) and is extremely Latin comedy. Although the ancients had been less theclose to the ancient model: the prologue is introduced by oretical about the comedic form, the humanists used the
a shade, there is a classical chorus which comments on the precepts of Aelius Donatus (4th century AD), Horace,
action and talks directly to the characters, and the tragic Aristotle and the works of Terence to elaborate a set of
rules: comedy should seek to correct vice by showing
ending is described by a messenger.
the truth; there should be a happy ending; comedy uses
Mellin de Saint-Gelais's translation of Gian Giorgio
a lower style of language than tragedy; comedy does not
Trissino's La Sophonisbe the rst modern regular
paint the great events of states and leaders, but the private
tragedy based on ancient models which tells the story
lives of people, and its principle subject is love.
of the noble Sophonisba's suicide (rather than be taken
as captive by Rome) was an enormous success at the Although some French authors kept close to the ancient models (Pierre de Ronsard translated a part of
court when performed in 1556.
Aristophanes's Plutus at college), on the whole the
Select list of authors and works of humanist tragedy:
French comedic tradition shows a great deal of borrowing from all sources: medieval farce (which continued to
Thodore de Bze
be immensely popular throughout the century), the short
story, Italian humanist comedies and La Celestina (by
Abraham sacriant (1550)
Fernando de Rojas).
tienne Jodelle

Select list of authors and works of Renaissance comedy:

1 HISTORIC OVERVIEW
tienne Jodelle
L'Eugne (1552) a comedy in ve acts
Jacques Grvin
Les bahis (1560)
Jean Antoine de Baf

the Ballets de cour (Court Ballet) an allegorical and fantastic mixture of dance and theatre. The
most famous of these is the Ballet comique de la
reine (1581).
By the end of the century, the most inuential French
playwright by the range of his styles and by his mastery
of the new forms would be Robert Garnier.

L'Eunuque (1565), a version of Terence's Eunuchus

All of these eclectic traditions would continue to evolve
Le Brave (1567) a version of Plautus's Miles in the baroque theatre of the early 17th century, before
French classicism would nally impose itself.
gloriosus
Jean de la Taille
Les Corrivaus (published in 1573) an imita- 1.3
tion of Boccaccio and other Italians

Early modern theatres and theatrical

companies

Pierre de Larivey son of an Italian, Larivey was an During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, public theimportant adapter of the Italian comedy.
atrical representations in Paris were under the control of
guilds, but in the last decades of the sixteenth century only
Le Laquais (1579)
one of these continued to exist: although les Confrrie
La Vefve (1579)
de la Passion" no longer had the right to perform mystery
Les Esprits (1579)
plays (1548), they were given exclusive rights to over Le Morfondu (1579)
see all theatrical productions in the capital and rented
out their theatre (the Htel de Bourgogne) to theatrical
Les Jaloux (1579)
troupes at a high price. In 1597, this guild abandoned
Les Escolliers (1579)
its privilege which permitted other theatres and theatrical
companies to eventually open in the capital.
Odet de Turnbe
Les Contents (1581)
Nicolas de Montreux
La Joyeuse (1581)
Joseph le Chaste (?)

In addition to public theatres, plays were produced in private residences, before the court and in the university. In
the rst half of the century, the public, the humanist theatre of the colleges and the theatre performed at court
showed extremely divergent tastes. For example, while
the tragicomedy was fashionable at the court in the rst
decade, the public was more interested in tragedy.

In the last decades of the century, four other theatrical

modes from Italy which did not follow the rigid rules The early theatres in Paris were often placed in existing
structures like tennis courts; their stages were extremely
of classical theatre ooded the French stage:
narrow, and facilities for sets and scene changes were of the Commedia dell'arte an improvisational the- ten non-existent (this would encourage the development
atre of xed types (Harlequin, Colombo) created of the unity of place). Eventually, theatres would dein Padua in 1545; Italian troupes were invited in velop systems of elaborate machines and decors, fashionable for the chevaleresque ights of knights found in the
France from 1576 on.
tragicomedies of the rst half of the century.
the Tragicomedy a theatrical version of the adIn the early part of the century, the theatre perforventurous novel, with lovers, knights, disguises and
mances took place twice a week starting at two or three
magic. The most famous of these is Robert Garo'clock. Theatrical representations often encompassed
nier's Bradamante (1580), adapted from Ariosto's
several works, beginning with a comic prologue, then a
Orlando furioso.
tragedy or tragicomedy, then a farce and nally a song.
the Pastoral modeled on Giambattista Guarini's Nobles sometimes sat on the side of the stage during
Pastor do (Faithful Shepard), Tasso's Am- the performance. Given that it was impossible to lower
inta and Antonio Ongaro Alceo (themselves in- the house lights, the audience was always aware of each
spired by Jacopo Sannazaro and Jorge de Mon- other and spectators were notably vocal during perfortemayor). The rst French pastorals were short mances. The place directly in front of the stage, without
plays performed before a tragedy, but were eventu- seatsthe parterrewas reserved for men, but being
ally expanded into ve acts. Nicolas de Montreux the cheapest tickets, the parterre was usually a mix of sowrote three pastorals: Athlette (1585), Diane (1592) cial groups. Elegant people watched the show from the
Arimne ou le berger dsespr (1597).
galleries. Princes, musketeers and royal pages were given

1.4

Baroque theatre

free entry. Before 1630, an honest woman did not go to Engravings show Louis XIV and the court seating outthe theatre.
side before the Cour du marbre of Versailles watching
Unlike England, France placed no restrictions on women the performance of a play.
performing on stage, but the career of actors of either sex
was seen as morally wrong by the Catholic Church (actors were excommunicated) and by the ascetic religious
Jansenist movement. Actors typically had fantastic stage
names that described typical roles or stereotypical characters.

The great majority of scripted plays in the seventeenth

century were written in verse (notable exceptions include
some of Molires comedies). Except for lyric passages in
these plays, the meter used was a twelve-syllable line (the
"alexandrine") with a regular pause or "cesura" after the
sixth syllable; these lines were put into rhymed couplets;
In addition to scripted comedies and tragedies, Parisians couplets alternated between feminine (i.e. ending in a
were also great fans of the Italian acting troupe who per- mute e) and masculine (i.e. ending in a vowel other
formed their Commedia dell'arte, a kind of improvised than a mute e, or in a consonant or a nasal) rhymes.
theatre based on types. The characters from the Commedia dell'arte would have a profound eect on French the1.4 Baroque theatre
atre, and one nds echoes of them in the braggarts, fools,
lovers, old men and wily servants that populate French
French theatre from the seventeenth century is often retheatre.
duced to three great names -- Pierre Corneille, Molire
Opera came to France in the second half of the century. and Jean Racineand to the triumph of classicism"; the
truth is however far more complicated.
The most important theatres and troupes in Paris:
Htel de Bourgogne - until 1629, this theatre was occupied by various troupes, including
the ("Comdiens du Roi") directed by Valleran
Lecomte and, at his death, by Bellerose (Pierre Le
Messier). The troupe became the ocial Troupe
Royale in 1629. Actors included: Turlupin, GrosGuillaume, Gautier-Gargouille, Floridor, Moneury, la Champmesl.

Theatre at the beginning of the century was dominated

by the genres and dramatists of the previous generation.
Most inuential in this respect was Robert Garnier. Although the royal court had grown tired of the tragedy (preferring the more escapist tragicomedy), the theatre going
public preferred the former. This would change in the
1630s and 1640s when, inuenced by the long baroque
novels of the period, the tragicomedya heroic and magical adventure of knights and maidensbecame the dominant genre. The amazing success of Corneilles Le Cid
in 1637 and Horace in 1640 would bring the tragedy
back into fashion, where it would remain for the rest of
the century.

Thtre du Marais (16001673) - this rival theatre

of the Htel de Bourgogne housed the troupe Vieux
Comdiens du Roi around Claude Deschamps and
the troupe of Jodelet.
The most important source for tragic theatre was Seneca
and the precepts of Horace and Aristotle (and modern
'La troupe de Monsieur - under the protection of commentaries by Julius Caesar Scaliger and Lodovico
Louis XIVs brother, this was Molires rst Paris Castelvetro), although plots were taken from classical autroupe. They moved to several theatres in Paris (the thors such as Plutarch, Suetonius, etc. and from short
Petit-Bourbon, the Palais-Royal) before combining story collections (Italian, French and Spanish). The
in 1673 with the troupe of the Thtre du Marais Greek tragic authors (Sophocles, Euripides) would beand becoming the troupe of the Htel Gungaud. come increasingly important by the middle of the century. Important models for both comedy, tragedy and
La Comdie franaise - in 1689 Louis XIV united tragicomedy of the century were also supplied by the
the Htel de Bourgogne and the Htel Gungaud Spanish playwrights Pedro Caldern de la Barca, Tirso
into one ocial troupe.
de Molina and Lope de Vega, many of whose works were
translated and adapted for the French stage. Important
Outside of Paris, in the suburbs and in the provinces, there theatrical models were also supplied by the Italian stage
were many wandering theatrical troupes. Molire got his (including the pastoral), and Italy was also an important
source for theoretical discussions on theatre, especially
start in a such a troupe.
The royal court and other noble houses were also im- with regards to decorum (see for example the debates on
portant organizers of theatrical representations, ballets de Sperone Speroni's play[2]Canace and Giovanni Battista Gicour, mock battles and other sorts of divertissement for raldi's play Orbecche).
their festivities, and in the some cases the roles of dancers
and actors were held by the nobles themselves. The early
years at Versaillesbefore the massive expansion of the
residencewere entirely consecrated to such pleasures,
and similar spectacles continued throughout the reign.

Regular comedies (i.e. comedies in ve acts modeled on

Plautus or Terence and the precepts of Aelius Donatus)
were less frequent on the stage than tragedies and tragicomedies at the turn of the century, as the comedic element of the early stage was dominated by the farce, the

1 HISTORIC OVERVIEW

satirical monologue and by the Italian commedia dell'arte.

Jean Rotrou and Pierre Corneille would return to the regular comedy shortly before 1630.
Corneilles tragedies were strangely un-tragic (his rst
version of Le Cid was even listed as a tragicomedy), for
they had happy endings. In his theoretical works on theatre, Corneille redened both comedy and tragedy around
the following suppositions:
The stagein both comedy and tragedyshould
feature noble characters (this would eliminate many
low-characters, typical of the farce, from Corneilles
comedies). Noble characters should not be depicted
as vile (reprehensible actions are generally due to
non-noble characters in Corneilles plays).
Tragedy deals with aairs of the state (wars, dynastic
marriages); comedy deals with love. For a work to
be tragic, it need not have a tragic ending.
Although Aristotle says that catharsis (purgation of
emotion) should be the goal of tragedy, this is only
an ideal. In conformity with the moral codes of the
period, plays should not show evil being rewarded or
nobility being degraded.
The history of the public and critical reaction to
Corneilles Le Cid can be found in other articles (he
was criticized for his use of sources, for his violation of
good taste, and for other irregularities that did not conform to Aristotian or Horacian rules), but its impact was
stunning. Cardinal Richelieu asked the newly formed
Acadmie franaise to investigate and pronounce on the
criticisms (it was the Academys rst ocial judgement),
and the controversy reveals a growing attempt to control
and regulate theatre and theatrical forms. This would be
the beginning of seventeenth century classicism.
Corneille continued to write plays through 1674 (mainly
tragedies, but also something he called heroic comedies) and many continued to be successes, although
the irregularities of his theatrical methods were increasingly criticized (notably by Franois Hdelin, abb
d'Aubignac) and the success of Jean Racine from the late
1660s signaled the end of his preeminence.
Select list of dramatists and plays, with indication of
genre (dates are often approximate, as date of publication was usually long after the date of rst performance):
Antoine de Montchrestien (c.1575-1621)

Hector (tragedy) - 1604

Jean de Schelandre (c. 1585-1635)
Tyr et Sidon, ou les funestes amours de Belcar
et Mliane (1608)
Alexandre Hardy (1572-c.1632) - Hardy reputedly
wrote 600 plays; only 34 have come down to us.
Scdase, ou l'hospitalit viole (tragedy) 1624
La Force du sang (tragicomedy) - 1625 (the
plot is taken from a Cervantes short story)
Lucrce, ou l'Adultre puni (tragedy) - 1628
Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan (15891670)
Les Bergeries (pastoral) - 1625
Thophile de Viau (15901626)
Les Amours tragiques de Pyrame et Thisb
(tragedy) - 1621
Franois le Mtel de Boisrobert (15921662)
Didon la chaste ou Les Amours de Hiarbas
(tragedy) - 1642
Jean Mairet (16041686)
La Sylve (pastoral tragicomedy) - c.1626
La Silvanire, ou La Morte vive (pastoral tragicomedy) - 1630
Les Galanteries du Duc d'Ossonne Vice-Roi
de Naples (comedy) - 1632
La Sophonisbe (tragedy) - 1634
La Virginie (tragicomedy) - 1636
Tristan L'Hermite (16011655)
Mariamne (tragedy) - 1636
Penthe (tragedy) - 1637
La Mort de Seneque (tragedy) - 1644
La Mort de Crispe (tragedy) - 1645
The Parasite - 1653
Jean Rotrou (16091650)
La Bague de l'oubli (comedy) - 1629
La Belle Alphrde (comedy) - 1639
Laure perscute (tragicomedy) - 1637

Sophonisbe a/k/a La Cathaginoise a/k/a La

Libert (tragedy) - 1596

Le Vritable saint Genest (tragedy) - 1645

La Reine d'Ecosse a/k/a L'Ecossaise (tragedy)

- 1601

Cosros (tragedy) - 1648

Aman (tragedy) - 1601

La Bergerie (pastoral) - 1601

Venceslas (tragicomedy) - 1647

Pierre Corneille (16061684)
Mlite (comedy) - 1629[3]

1.5

17th-century classicism
Clitandre (tragicomedy, later changed to
tragedy) - 1631
La Veuve (comedy) - 1631
La Place Royale (comedy) - 1633
Mde (tragedy) - 1635
L'Illusion comique (comedy) - 1636
Le Cid (tragicomedy, later changed to tragedy)
- 1637
Horace (tragedy) - 1640
Cinna (tragedy) - 1640
Polyeucte (Christian tragedy) - c.1641
La Mort de Pompe (tragedy) - 1642
Le Menteur (comedy) - 1643
Rodogune, princesse des Parthes (tragedy) 1644
Hraclius, empereur d'Orient (tragedy) - 1647
Don Sanche d'Aragon (heroic comedy) 1649
Nicomde (tragedy) - 1650
Sertorius (tragedy) - 1662
Sophonisbe (tragedy) - 1663
Othon (tragedy) - 1664
Tite et Brnice (heroic comedy) - 1670
Surna, gnral des Parthes (tragedy) - 1674

Pierre du Ryer (16061658)

Lucrce (tragedy) - 1636
Alcione - 1638
Scvola (tragedy) - 1644
Jean Desmarets (15951676)
Les Visionnaires (comedy) - 1637
Erigone (prose tragedy) - 1638
Scipion (verse tragedy) - 1639

7
Cloptre (tragedy) - 1635
Samuel Chappuzeau - 1625 - 1701
Le Cercle des femmes ou le Secret du Lit Nuptial 1656 (Comedy, prose)
Damon et Pythias, ou le Triomphe de l'Amour
et de l'Amiti (tragi-comedy) 1657
Armetzar ou les Amis ennemis (tragi-comedy)
1658
Le Riche mcontent ou le noble imaginaire
(Comedy)1660
L'Acadmie des Femmes, (Farce, in verse)
Paris, 1661
Le Colin-Maillard (Farce,
Facetieuse), Paris, 1662

Comedie

L'Avare dupp, ou l'Homme de paille, (comedy) Paris, 1663

Les Eaux de Pirmont - 1669

1.5 17th-century classicism

The expression classicism as it applies to literature implies notions of order, clarity, moral purpose and good
taste. Many of these notions are directly inspired by the
works of Aristotle and Horace and by classical Greek and
Roman masterpieces.
In theatre, a play should follow the Three Unities:
Unity of place : the setting should not change. In
practice, this led to the frequent Castle, interior.
Battles take place o stage.
Unity of time: ideally the entire play should take
place in 24 hours.
Unity of action: there should be one central story
and all secondary plots should be linked to it.

Franois Hdelin, abb d'Aubignac (16041676)

Although based on classical examples, the unities of place

and time were seen as essential for the spectators com La Cyminde - 1642
plete absorption into the dramatic action; wildly dis La Pucelle d'Orlans - 1642
persed scenes in China or Africa, or over many years
Znobie (tragedy) - 1647, written with the in- wouldcritics maintainedbreak the theatrical illusion.
tention of aording a model in which the strict Sometimes grouped with the unity of action is the notion
that no character should appear unexpectedly late in the
rules of the drama were served.
drama.
Le Martyre de Sainte Catherine (tragedy) Linked with the theatrical unities are the following con1650
cepts:
Paul Scarron (16101660)
Jodelet - 1645
Don Japhel d'Armnie - 1653
Isaac de Benserade (c.1613-1691)

Les biensances : literature should respect moral

codes and good taste; nothing should be presented
that outs these codes, even if they are historical
events.

1 HISTORIC OVERVIEW
La vraisemblance : actions should be believable. When historical events contradict believability, some critics counselled the latter. The criterion
of believability was sometimes also used to criticize
soliloquy, and in late classical plays characters are
almost invariably supplied with condents (valets,
friends, nurses) to whom they reveal their emotions.

These rules precluded many elements common in the

baroque tragi-comedy": ying horses, chivalric battles,
magical trips to foreign lands and the deus ex machina.
The mauling of Hippolyte by a monster in Phdre could
only take place ostage.

the whole the publics enthusiasm for tragedy had greatly

diminished: theatrical tragedy paled beside the dark economic and demographic problems at the end of the century and the comedy of manners (see below) had incorporated many of the moral goals of tragedy. Other
later century tragedians include: Claude Boyer, Michel
Le Clerc, Jacques Pradon, Jean Galbert de Campistron,
Jean de La Chapelle, Antoine d'Aubigny de la Fosse,
l'abb Charles-Claude Geneste, Prosper Jolyot de Crbillon. At the end of the century, in the plays of Crbillon in particular, there occasionally appeared a return to
the theatricality of the beginning of the century: multiple
episodes, extravagant fear and pity, and the representation of gruesome actions on the stage.

Finally, literature and art should consciously fol- Early French opera was particularly popular with the
low Horaces precept to please and educate (aut royal court in this period, and the composer Jean-Baptiste
Lully was extremely prolic (see the composers article
delectare aut prodesse est).
for more on court ballets and opera in this period). These
These rules or codes were seldom completely fol- musical works carried on in the tradition of tragicomlowed, and many of the centurys masterpieces broke edy (especially the pices machines) and court ballet,
and also occasionally presented tragic plots (or tragdies
these rules intentionally to heighten emotional eect:
en musique). The dramatists that worked with Lully included Pierre Corneille and Molire, but the most impor Corneilles Le Cid was criticised for having Rotant of these librettists was Philippe Quinault, a writer of
drigue appear before Chimne after having killed
comedies, tragedies, and tragicomedies.
her father, a violation of moral codes.
Comedy in the second half of the century was dominated
by Molire. A veteran actor, master of farce, slapstick,
1.6 Theatre under Louis XIV
the Italian and Spanish theatre (see above), and regular
theatre modeled on Plautus and Terence, Molires outBy the 1660s, classicism had nally imposed itself on put was large and varied. He is credited with giving the
French theatre. The key theoretical work on theatre French "comedy of manners" (comdie de murs) and
from this period was Franois Hedelin, abb d'Aubignac's the comedy of character (comdie de caractre) their
Pratique du thtre (1657), and the dictates of this work modern form. His hilarious satires of avaricious fathers,
reveal to what degree French classicism was willing "prcieuses", social parvenues, doctors and pompous litto modify the rules of classical tragedy to maintain the erary types were extremely successful, but his comedies
unities and decorum (d'Aubignac for example saw the on religious hypocrisy ("Tartue") and libertinage ("Don
tragedies of Oedipus and Antigone as unsuitable for the Juan") brought him much criticism from the church, and
contemporary stage).
Tartue was only performed through the intervention
Although Pierre Corneille continued to produce tragedies of the king. Many of Molires comedies, like Tartue,
to the end of his life, the works of Jean Racine from the Don Juan and the "Le Misanthrope" could veer belate 1660s on totally eclipsed the late plays of the elder tween farce and the darkest of dramas, and the endings
dramatist. Racines tragediesinspired by Greek myths, of Don Juan and the Misanthrope are far from being
Euripides, Sophocles and Senecacondensed their plot purely comic.
into a tight set of passionate and duty-bound conicts between a small group of noble characters, and concentrated
on these characters double-binds and the geometry of
their unfullled desires and hatreds. Racines poetic skill
was in the representation of pathos and amorous passion
(like Phdre's love for her stepson) and his impact was
such that emotional crisis would be the dominant mode
of tragedy to the end of the century. Racines two late
plays (Esther and Athalie) opened new doors to biblical subject matter and to the use of theatre in the education of young women.
Tragedy in the last two decades of the century and the rst
years of the eighteenth century was dominated by productions of classics from Pierre Corneille and Racine, but on

Comedy to the end of the century would continue on

the paths traced by Molire: the satire of contemporary morals and manners and the regular comedy would
dominate, and the last great comedy of Louis XIVs
reign, Alain-Ren Lesage's Turcaret, is an immensely
dark play in which almost no character shows redeeming
traits.
Select list of French theatre after 1659:
Molire (pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)
(16221673)
Les prcieuses ridicules (comedy) - 1659
L'Ecole des femmes (comedy) - 1662

1.7

18th century

Tartue ou L'Imposteur (comedy) - 1664

Le Joueur (comedy) - 1696

Don Juan ou Le festin de pierre (comedy) 1665

Le Distrait (comedy) - 1697

Le Misanthrope (comedy) - 1666

Jean Galbert de Campistron (16561723)

L'Avare (comedy) - 1668

Andronic (tragedy) - 1685

Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (comedy) - 1670

Tiridate (tragedy) - 1691

Les Fourberies de Scapin (comedy) - 1671

Les Femmes savantes (comedy) - 1672
Le Malade imaginaire (comedy) - 1673
Thomas Corneille (16251709) - brother of Pierre
Corneille
Timocrate (tragedy) - 1659, the longest run
(80 nights) recorded of any play in the century
Ariane (tragedy) - 1672
Circe (tragicomedy) - 1675 (cowritten with
Donneau de Vis)

Florent Carton Dancourt (16611725)

Le Chevalier la mode (comedy) - 1687
Les Bourgeoises la mode (comedy) - 1693
Les Bourgeoises de qualit (comedy) - 1700
Alain-Ren Lesage (16681747)
Turcaret (comedy) - 1708
Prosper Jolyot de Crbillon (16741762)
Idomne (tragedy) - 1705

La Devineresse (comedy) - 1679 (cowritten

with Donneau de Vis)

Atre et Thyeste (tragedy) - 1707

Bellrophon (opra) - 1679

Rhadamiste et Znobie (tragedy) - 1711

Philippe Quinault (16351688).

Alceste (musical tragedy) - 1674

Electre (tragedy) - 1709

Xerxes (tragedy) - 1714
Smiramis (tragedy) 1717

Proserpine (musical tragedy) - 1680

Amadis de Gaule (musical tragicomedy) - 1.7 18th century

1684, based on the Renaissance chivalric novel
For more details on this topic, see French theatre of the
Armide (musical tragicomedy) - 1686, based late 18th century.
on Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered
Jean Racine (16391699)
Andromaque (tragedy) - 1667
Les Plaideurs (comedy) - 1668, Racines only
comedy
Brnice (tragedy) - 1670
Bajazet (tragedy) - 1672

Jean-Franois Regnard
Voltaire
Marivaux
Denis Diderot

Iphignie (tragedy) - 1674

Beaumarchais

Phdre (tragedy) - 1677

Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (Le Mchant)

Britannicus (tragedy) - 1689

Esther (tragedy) - 1689
Athalie (tragedy) - 1691
Jacques Pradon (16321698)
Pyrame et Thisb (tragedy) - 1674
Tamerlan, ou la mort de Bajazet (tragedy) 1676

The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in addition

to writing several dramatic works, also considered
the theatres relation to politics and society in his
Letter to M. D'Alembert on Spectacles.

1.8 19th century

The major battle of romanticism in France was fought in

Phdre et Hippolyte (tragedy) - 1677, this the theatre. The early years of the century were marked
play, released at the same time as Racines, had by a revival of classicism and classical-inspired tragedies,
often with themes of national sacrice or patriotic heroa momentary success
ism in keeping with the spirit of the Revolution, but the
Jean-Franois Regnard (16551709)
production of Victor Hugo's Hernani in 1830 marked the

10

triumph of the romantic movement on the stage (a description of the turbulent opening night can be found in
Thophile Gautier). The dramatic unities of time and
place were abolished, tragic and comic elements appeared
together and metrical freedom was won. Marked by the
plays of Friedrich Schiller, the romantics often chose subjects from historic periods (the French Renaissance, the
reign of Louis XIII of France) and doomed noble characters (rebel princes and outlaws) or misunderstood artists
(Vignys play based on the life of Thomas Chatterton).
By the middle of the century, theatre began to reect
more and more a realistic tendency, associated with
Naturalism. These tendencies can be seem in the theatrical melodramas of the period and, in an even more
lurid and gruesome light, in the Grand Guignol at the
end of the century. In addition to melodramas, popular and bourgeois theatre in the mid-century turned to
realism in the well-made bourgeois farces of Eugne
Marin Labiche and the moral dramas of mile Augier.
Also popular were the operettas, farces and comedies of
Ludovic Halvy, Henri Meilhac, and, at the turn of the
century, Georges Feydeau. Before the war, the most successful play was Octave Mirbeau's great comedy Les affaires sont les aaires (Business is business) (1903).

REFERENCES

Shaw.
Inspired by the theatrical experiments in the early half of
the century and by the horrors of the war, the avant-garde
Parisian theatre, New theatretermed the "Theatre
of the Absurd" by critic Martin Esslin in reference to
Eugne Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Arthur
Adamov, Fernando Arrabalrefused simple explanations and abandoned traditional characters, plots and staging. Other experiments in theatre involved decentralisation, regional theatre, popular theatre (designed to
bring the working class to the theatre), Brechtian theatre
(largely unknown in France before 1954), and the productions of Arthur Adamov and Roger Planchon. The
Avignon festival was started in 1947 by Jean Vilar, who
was also important in the creation of the "Thtre national
populaire" or T.N.P.

The events of May 1968 marked a watershed in the development of a radical ideology of revolutionary change
in education, class, family and literature. In theatre, the
conception of cration collective developed by Ariane
Mnouchkine's Thtre du Soleil refused division into
writers, actors and producers: the goal was for total collaboration, for multiple points of view, for an elimination
of separation between actors and the public, and for the
The poetry of Baudelaire and much of the literature in audience to seek out their own truth.
the latter half of the century (or "n de sicle") were
often characterized as "decadent" for their lurid content or moral vision, but with the publication of Jean 2 See also
Moras Symbolist Manifesto in 1886, it was the term
symbolism which was most often applied to the new lit Category:French dramatists and playwrights
erary environment. Symbolism appeared in theatre in
the works of writers Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and Maurice
Category:French plays
Maeterlinck among others.

1.9

20th century

The most signicant dramatist of turn of the century

France was Alfred Jarry. The impact of his plays, primarily Ubu Roi, was writ large upon contemporary audiences
and has continued to be a major inuence on, among others, Monty Pythons Flying Circus and The Young Ones.
Avant-garde theatre in France after World War I was profoundly marked by Dada and Surrealism. The Surrealist movement was a major force in experimental writing
and the international art world until the Second World
War, and the surrealists technique was particularly wellsuited for poetry and theatre, most notably in the theatrical works of Antonin Artaud and Guillaume Apollinaire.
Theatre in the 1920s and 1930s went through further
changes in a loose association of theatres (called the Cartel) around the directors and producers Louis Jouvet,
Charles Dullin, Gaston Baty, and Ludmila and Georges
Pito. They produced French works by Jean Giraudoux, Jules Romains, Jean Anouilh and Jean-Paul Sartre,
as well as Greek and Shakespearean plays and works by
Luigi Pirandello, Anton Chekhov, and George Bernard

3 References
[1] Brockett, Oscar (2003). History of the Theatre, 9th Edition. Allyn and Bacon. p. 188. ISBN 0-205-35878-0.
[2] See, among other works: Bray, Ren. La formation de
la doctrine classique en France. Paris: Hachette, 1927.
For an analysis of theatre development in the Renaissance,
see: Reiss. Timothy. Renaissance theatre and the theory
of tragedy. The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism.
Volume III: The Renaissance. pp.229-247. ISBN 0-52130008-8
[3] Frederick Hawkins (1884). Chronology of the French
Stage, 789-1699. Annals of the French Stage. London:
Chapman and Hall via Hathi Trust.

11

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