Theatre and State in France, 1760-1905
Theatre and State in France, 1760-1905
Relations between theatre and state were seldom more fraught in France than in the latter part of the eighteenth and during the nineteenth century. The unique attraction of the theatre, the sole source of mass entertainment over the period, accounts in part for this: successive governments could not ignore these large nightly gatherings, viewing them with distrust and attempting to control them by every kind of device, from censorship of plays to the licensing of playhouses. In his illuminating study, F. W. J. Hemmings traces the vicissitudes of this perennial conflict, which began with the rise of the small independent boulevard theatres in the 1760s and eventually petered out in 1905 with the abandonment of censorship by the state. There are separate chapters on the provincial theatre, while the French Revolution is given particularly detailed attention. This work, complementing his earlier book The Theatre Industry in Nineteenth-Century France, will be of interest to students of theatre history, French studies and European culture in general.
- Covers the political and social aspects of the French theatre in this period
- Contains valuable primary source information on government documents, actors' and theatre contracts, etc.
- Contains useful guide to further reading
Reviews & endorsements
"...the main text is gracefully written in clear, idiomatic British English. Cambridge University Press have happily maintained their usual production standards with clear fonts, an attractive dust jacket and remarkably few typographical errors. Professor Hemmings has addressed a central aspect of the history of French theatre, and has done so extraordinarily well." Dalhousie French Studies
"...this fascinating book is destined to become an essential component in the history of European theatre." Times Higher Education Supplement
"...everyone with an interest in theater, politics, sociology, and history in general should own and read this book. A writer of Hemmings's ability deserves encouragement!" T. A. Pallen, Choice
"...an invaluable resource for those who wish to do further work in the unpublished archives of the state police and the various national and commercial theaters. Scholars taking a more literary approach to the theatre will also find much of interest in these pages." Jeffrey S. Ravel, Theatre Survey
"It is a tribute to the clarity of Hemmings'writing that one is not often impelled to flip to the six-page chronology of historical and cultural events." Comparative Drama
Product details
February 1994Hardback
9780521450881
300 pages
236 × 160 × 23 mm
0.563kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Chronology
- Introduction
- 1. The royal theatres of the ancien régime
- 2. The rise of the commercial theatre
- 3. Dramatic censorship down to its abolition
- 4. The liberation of the theatres
- 5. The royal theatres under the Revolution
- 6. The theatre in the service of the Republic
- 7. Re-establishment of the state theatres
- 8. Curbs on the commercial sector
- 9. Politics and the pit
- 10. The theatre in the provinces
- 11. The licensing sytem, 1814–1864
- 12. The state-supported theatres in the nineteenth century
- 13. The theatre in crisis: competition from the café-concert
- 14. Dramatic censorship in the nineteenth century
- 15. The private sector
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Guide to further reading
- Index.
