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A Curious form of Protest Theatre: The Pièce À Écriteaux

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Ardelle Striker
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Extract

Near the end of his long career at the fairs, Alain-René Lesage wrote a play entitled L'Histoire de l'Opéra-Comique ou les Métamorphoses de la Foire which was presented at the St.-Laurent Fair, the theatre of Pontau, on the 27th of June, 1736. It had indeed been a metamorphosis that Lesage had seen in his twenty–four years with the forains, and in this, almost his last production, he wished “to give an idea of the different changes that the Opéra-Comiquc had suffered since its establishment up to the present time, and to demonstrate with what relentlessness the theatre had been persecuted by its rivals.” On the threshold of his retirement he recalled the various forms used by the actors to circumvent the restrictions and attacks of the Comédie Française and the Académie Royale de Musique.

Type
Research Article
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , May 1973 , pp. 55 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1973

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References

Notes

1 Desboulmiers, Jean, Histoire du Théâtre de l'Opéra Comique, 2 vols. (Paris, 1769), I, 276–280Google Scholar.

2 Panard, Charles François (1674–1765). Panard's major work was in the mid-eighteenth century: 5 comedies and 30 comic operas. He was extremely fond of unusual personified figures and abstractions. Collaborated with Laffichard, Pontau, Sticotti, and Favart.

3 Campardon, , Les Spectacles de la Foire, 2 vols. (Paris, 1877)Google Scholar. All biographical material on the forains is from this source unless otherwise noted. Alexandre Bertrand began producing marionette shows at the fairs in 1684. In 1690 he added live actors and the Comédie Française had his theatre torn down. Returning to puppets until 1697, he took advantage of the departure of the Italians to rent their theatre for regular productions but he was immediately expelled. Then he produced live shows behind the façade of a marionette theatre at the fairs. His whole life was a constant litigation with the Comédie Française and he only confessed defeat in 1719. He returned to his marionettes in 1723 and died in 1725. Moritz von der Beek, called Maurice, was born about 1649. He was the pupil of Charles Alard with whose troupe he appeared for several years. With his wife, née Jeanne Godefroy, he formed his own troupe. In 1694 he died suddenly, leaving his widow to continue producing at the fairs. She retired in 1709 and died in 1710. Charles and Pierre Alard were excellent acrobats and rope dancers. They ran their own company until the end of the seventeenth century. From 1700 to 1706 they were associated with the Widow Maurice; from 1707 to 1710 they were independent, then united with Lalauze in 1711. Charles died in a fall that year. Pierre continued to manage various troupes until 1722. The date of his death is unknown.

4 Among them Dominique, Octave, Belloni, Paghetti and Romagnesi.

5 For a complete discussion not only of Gherardi's collection but of all the material presented at the Théâtre Italien, see Lancaster, Henry Carrington, History of French Dramatic Literature in the Seventeenth Century (Baltimore, 1929–1942), Part IV, Vol. II, 599–705Google Scholar.

6 The pièce á la muette consisted of actors pronouncing in tragic tones words without sense which were formulated into alexandrines.

7 Lesage, and d'Orneval, , Le Théâtre de la Foire ou l'Opéra-Comique, 9 vols. (Paris, 1721–1737)Google Scholar. All quotations from plays by Lesage are taken from this work unless otherwise noted.

8 Parfaict, Frères, Mémoires pour servir ä l'histoire des Spectacles de la Foire, par un acteur forain, 2 vols. (Paris, 1743), I, 108Google Scholar. The authors do not give the name of this first effort but they describe the process of transfer of the scroll from the right pocket to the left by each actor as he mimed his part. Later in 1710 at the Foire St.-Laurent Arlequin aux Champs Elisées is reported as a 3-act play with écriteaux. At the Foire St.-Germain of 1711 two theatres were presenting programs of écriteaux. During the performance of Les Festes Bachiques, followed by Amours de Mars & de Venus and Festes de Paysans, Charles Alard met his death.

9 Barbaret, Vincent, Lesage et le Théatre de la Foire (Nancy, 1887; reprinted Geneva, 1970)Google Scholar. Appendix 3 provides the scenario of Apollon à la Foire as well as a resumé of another entertainment which Barbaret claims is typical of the low level of most écriteaux.

10 Spaziani, Marcello, Il teatro delta Foire (Rome, 1965)Google Scholar. Arlequin Enée, pp. 95–113. In his introduction to the play, Spaziani pays tribute to Charles Alard.

11 Campardon, , Les Spectacles…, I, 91Google Scholar.

12 Frères Parfaict, I, p. 163 attribute to him the invention of the play with music which was later called the opéra-comique. The most recent criticism, Spaziani's, “Per Una Storia della Commedia ‘Foraine’: Il periodo 1713–1736” in Studi in onore di Carlo Pellegrini (Torino, 1963). pp. 255–277Google Scholar, questions Lesage's dominance of the théâtre forain. Lesage, however, was already a popular author when he came to the fairs. His success in the novel must certainly have given him prestige and made him a leader among the auteurs forains.

13 Spaziani, Marcello, Il teatro minore di Lesage (Rome, 1957), p. 103Google Scholar, does not list Le Retour d'Arlequin àla Foire or Arlequin Baron Allemand as pièces à écriteaux. Campardon, Les Spectacles…, pp. 185–190Google Scholar, presents a police report which says: “We read on the aforementioned écriteaux and heard sung several songs which were contrary to modesty and good manners.”

14 Quoted by Albert, Maurice, Les Théâatres de la Foire (Paris, 1900), p. 52Google Scholar.

15 This device was used in Arlequin Mercure galant at the Théâtre Italien in 1682.

16 Lancaster, Part IV, Vol. II, 667.

17 Colasse, P., Thétis et Pélée in Chefs-d'Oeuvre Classiques de l'Opéra Francais (Paris, 188-?)Google Scholar. The introduction lists Mlle. Desmatins for the 1699 revival but does not mention who played in either the 1708 or 1712 revivals. Thévenard is listed for 1712—Campardon, E., L'Academie Royale de Musique au XVIII Siècle, 2 vols. (Paris, 1884) attests to the appearance of Cochereau and ThévenardGoogle Scholar.

18 The genre poissard was a type of low-life comedy popular throughout the 18th century. It utilized the language and types of the Parisian streets, particularly the fishmongers. Early in the century, the genre poissard was generally used for parody and social satire; later on, the common man was extolled; and at the end of the century the genre provided a natural milieu for revolutionary sentiments. —See Moore, A. P., The Genre Poissard and the French Stage of the 18th Century (New York, 1935), pp. 226–227Google Scholar.

19 Richard Baxter was born in England and appeared for the first time in 1707 at Nivellon's theatre where he played Arlequin to perfection. From 1712 to 1716 he played for La Dame Baron; in 1717 he was touring the provinces; in 1721 he was involved with Pierre Alard and others in a business ventur which failed. He then retired to a hermitage where he died many years later in 1747.

20 Nicoll, Allardyce, A History of English Drama (Cambridge, 1952), Vol. II, 400–407Google Scholar. Also: Rosenfeld, Sybil, Foreign Theatrical Companies in Great Britain (London, 1955)Google Scholar and Disher, M. Willson, Clowns & Pantomimes (Boston, 1925), p. 242Google Scholar.

21 Spaziani, , Il teatro minore…, pp. 163–164Google Scholar.

22 See Attinger, Gustav, L'Esprit de la Commedia dell' arte dansle Théâatre français (Paris and Geneva, 1950), pp. 298–302Google Scholar.

23 Campardon, , Les Spectacles…, II, 367–368Google Scholar.

24 Charles Dolet arrived in Paris in 1704 and for the next 20 years he was connected with the théâtre forain as both actor and manager. He played Arlequin without a mask, generally to the Scaramouche of Delaplace.

25 Wiley, William A., The Early Public Theatre in France (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), p. 166CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Bonnassies, Jules, Les Spectacles Forains et la Comédie Française (Paris, 1875), p. 26Google Scholar.

27 Campardon, , Les Spectacles…, II, 362–365Google Scholar.

28 Lawrenson, T. E., The French Stage in the XVIIth Century (Manchester, 1957), p. 116 suggests that the Italians also used machinery purely for comic effectGoogle Scholar.

29 Riccoboni, Luigi, An Historical & Critical Account of the Theatres in Europe (London, 1741), pp. 132–133Google Scholar.