Theatre and State in France, 1760-1905

Relations between theatre and state were seldom more fraught in France than in this period. F. W. J. Hemmings traces the vicissitudes of this perennial conflict.

Frederic William John Hemmings (Author)

9780521034722, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 14 December 2006

300 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.457 kg

'An extremely readable and absorbing account of a protracted campaign for the freedom of the stage.' Theatre Scotland

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]