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Chapter 6 - Theatres as Economic Concerns

Molière, the Hôtel Guénégaud and the Comédie-Française

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2024

Clare Finburgh Delijani
Affiliation:
Goldsmiths, University of London
Christian Biet
Affiliation:
Université Paris Nanterre
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Summary

Jan Clarke’s chapter examines the period of Molière and his contemporaries from the perspective of theatrical establishments. Focusing on three companies – Molière’s troupe (1658–73), the Hôtel Guénégaud company (1673–80) and the Comédie-Française (from 1680 onwards) – Clarke highlights a number of interrelated factors: the prime importance of a theatre’s location within the capital; financial structures ranging from royal patronage and ticket sales to concessions, for example, for the refreshment booth, as well as theatres’ multiple expenditures, including for rent, heating, transport and above all company members’ pensions. Across the analysis, Clarke illustrates how a theatre not only provided a living for company members and their employees but also contributed to the livelihoods of myriad other associates, from the most skilled to the most humble, the majority of whom remain anonymous, while others have left only fleeting traces in contemporary documents.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Recommended Reading

Lough, John, Paris Theatre Audiences in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (1957). A detailed study, that stands the test of time, of the composition of audiences.Google Scholar
Howarth, William, French Theatre in the Neo-Classical Era (1997). The publication, in translation, of a vast array of original documents relating to French seventeenth- and eighteenth-century theatre.Google Scholar
Clarke, Jan, The Guénégaud Theatre in Paris (1673–1680) – Volume 1: Founding, Design and Production (1998). A full account of the establishment and activity of the company that succeeded Molière’s and paved the way for the Comédie-Française, giving exceptional insights into the day-to-day running of a seventeenth-century theatre.Google Scholar

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