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Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state theatre in France to have its own permanent troupe of actors. The company's primary venue is the Salle Richelieu, which is a part of the Palais-Royal complex and located at 2, Rue de Richelieu on Place André-Malraux in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The theatre has also been known as the Théâtre de la République and popularly as "La Maison de Molière" (The House of Molière). It acquired the latter name from the troupe of the best-known playwright associated with the Comédie-Française, Molière. He was considered the patron of French actors. He died seven years before his troupe became known as the Comédie-Française, but the company continued to be known as "La Maison de Molière" even after the official change of name. Histor ...
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Palais-Royal
The Palais-Royal () is a former royal palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal Richelieu from about 1633 to 1639 by the architect Jacques Lemercier. Richelieu bequeathed it to Louis XIII, and Louis XIV gave it to his younger brother, the Duke of Orléans. As the succeeding dukes of Orléans made such extensive alterations over the years, almost nothing remains of Lemercier's original design. The Palais-Royal now serves as the seat of the Ministry of Culture, the Conseil d'État and the Constitutional Council. The central Palais-Royal Garden (Jardin du Palais-Royal) serves as a public park, and the arcade houses shops. History Palais-Cardinal Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, the palace was the personal residence of Cardinal Richelieu. The architect Jacques Lemercier began his design in 1629; construction co ...
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Salle Richelieu
The Salle Richelieu () is the principal theatre of the Comédie-Française. It is located in the Palais-Royal in the first arrondissement of Paris and was originally constructed in 1786–1790 to the designs of the architect Victor Louis.Wild 1989, pp. 383–384. It seats 862 spectators. History For the auditorium of his earlier theatre, the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux (1773–1780), Victor Louis had combined the ancient semicircle with the ellipse giving a horseshoe plan and devised open balcony boxes, both features which he employed again in the Salle Richelieu (1786–1790), as well as in his later theatre, the Théâtre des Arts (1791–1793). As originally designed, the auditorium of the Salle Richelieu seated around 2,000 spectators. The site for the building was so constricted, he placed the entrance foyer under the auditorium. His design was also innovative for the use of an iron frame (under the roof, the floors and boxes), mainly for the purpose of fireproofing. Or ...
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Armande Béjart
Armande-Grésinde-Claire-Élisabeth Béjart (1645 – 30 November 1700) was a French stage actress, also known under her stage name Mademoiselle Molière.Scott, Virginia (2010). Women on the stage in early modern France : 1540-1750''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . She was married to Molière, and one of the most famous actresses in the 17th-century. Life She was the daughter of Madeleine Béjart and belonged to the Béjart family, a famous theatre family in 17th-century France. In 1643 her mother Madeleine co-founded, with Molière, the theatre company called Illustre Théâtre. Molière directed her education and she grew up under his eye. Armande married Molière in 1662, when he was 40 and she 17. Together, they had three children: Louis (19 January11 November 1664), Marie Madeleine Esprit (3 August 166523 May 1723) and Pierre Jean-Baptiste Armand (15 September11 October 1672). Early career She played her first important role in Molière's company in June 1663, ...
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Michel Baron
Michel Baron (8 October 1653 – 22 December 1729) was a French actor and playwright. Life His family name was originally Boyron. His father and mother were leading players, André Boiron and Jeanne Auzoult. He was born in Paris. He was orphaned at age 9, and joined the child company ''Petits Comédiens Dauphins'' at age 12, becoming its brightest star. Baron came to the notice of Molière, joined his troupe, and eventually became his protégé. He left the troupe after a conflict with Molière's wife, Armande Béjart, but rejoined in 1670. He played the role of Domitien in Pierre Corneille's ''Tite et Bérénice'' and played in Corneille's ''Psyché''. He stayed with the troupe until Molière's death in 1673, when he joined the troupe at the Hotel de Bourgogne. This troupe merged with another in 1680 to become the Comédie-Française. With Comédie-Française, Baron was the undisputed master of the French stage until his retirement in 1691. He created many of the leadin ...
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Rue De Richelieu
The Rue de Richelieu is a long street of Paris, starting in the south of the 1st arrondissement at the Comédie-Française and ending in the north of the 2nd arrondissement. For the first half of the 19th century, before Georges-Eugène Haussmann redefined Paris with grand boulevards, it was one of the most fashionable streets of Paris. It is most notable for scattered coin dealers and currency changers, being near the Paris Bourse, the stock market. Name The street is named for the Cardinal de Richelieu, chief minister of Louis XIII from 1624 to 1642. The street was originally called the Rue Royale and then Rue de Richelieu soon after. The name was changed to the Rue de la Loi during the French Revolution; its name was restored to Richelieu in 1806. Buildings of note * Palais-Royal, a Richelieu residence (''Monument historique'') * Bibliothèque nationale de France, a historical building (''Site Richelieu'') (''Monument historique'') * Comédie-Française, main hall (Salle Ri ...
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Noël Lebreton De Hauteroche
Noël Lebreton, sieur de Hauteroche (Paris, 1617 – Paris, 14 July 1707), was a French actor and playwright who died blind. The son of a bailiff in Parlement, Hauteroche fled to Spain in order to escape a marriage that was to be imposed on him and became a comedian in Valencia. He played in Germany and founded his own company in Paris in 1654, then joined the Théâtre du Marais the same year and passed to the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1660. In 1671, he succeeded Floridor as director of the troupe. Representing the third tragic roles, he was noted for the skill with which he told stories. At the same time he composed comedies and was among the emulators of Molière. Without rising to the creation of characters or the painting of manners, his talent was to skillfully build a plot and sow the dialog with pleasant traits. Retired from stage in 1684, he then experienced his greatest success as a playwright. ''L’Amant qui ne flatte point'', in five acts, in verse (1668), ''Les Appar ...
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Raymond Poisson
Raymond Poisson (1630–1690) was a French actor and playwright. Mainly a comic actor, he used the stage names Crispin in comedy and Belleroche in tragedy.Gaines 2002, p. 374. Career Poisson joined the company of the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris, primarily as a comic rival to Molière, who played at the Palais-Royal. As a comedian Poisson wore a black servant costume in a Spanish style and was noted for his stutter.Hartnoll 1983, p. 73 ("Belleroche"). He appropriated the character of Crispin from Scarron's ''L'Écolier de Salamanque'' (1654), playing it himself, and wrote and appeared in ''Lubin'' (1660) and ''Le Baron de la Crasse'' (1661). He became a founding member of the Comédie-Française in 1680.Hartnoll 1983, p. 169 ("Comédie-Française"). His son Paul and his grandsons Philippe and Francois-Arnoul all became actors, whilst his granddaughter Madeleine-Angélique de Gomez became a writer. Notes Bibliography * Curtis, A. Ross (1972). Crispin Ier : la vie et l'œuvr ...
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Hôtel De Bourgogne (theatre)
Hôtel de Bourgogne was a theatre, built in 1548 for the first authorized theatre troupe in Paris, the Confrérie de la Passion. It was located on the rue Mauconseil (now the rue Étienne Marcel in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris), on a site that had been part of the residence of the Dukes of Burgundy (the former Hôtel de Bourgogne). The most important French theatre until the 1630s, it continued to be used until 1783,Forman 2010, p. 134 ("Hôtel de Bourgogne"). after which it was converted to a leather market and eventually totally demolished. The Confrérie performed farce and secular dramas, but lacking great success, began renting the theatre to itinerant acting companies, including Italian ''commedia dell'arte'' troupes, who introduced the characters Harlequin and Pantalone, as well as burlesque. In 1628, a French company, the Comédiens du Roi, became permanently established and performed many of the classics of French theatre, including ''Andromaque'' and ''Phèdre'' by ...
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Marie Champmeslé
Marie Champmeslé ('' née'' Desmares; 18 February 1642 – 15 May 1698) was a French stage actress. Biography She was born in Rouen of a wealthy family; her father's name was Desmares. She made her first appearance on the stage at Rouen with Charles Chevillet Champmeslé (1645-1707), who called himself sieur de Champmeslé, and they were married in 1666. By 1669 they were playing in Paris at the Theatre du Marais, her first appearance there being as Venus in Boyer's ''Fête de Vénus''. The next year, as Hermione in Jean Racine's ''Andromaque'', she had a great success at the Hotel de Bourgogne. Her intimacy with Racine dates from then. Some of his finest tragedies were written for her, but her repertoire was not confined to them, and many an indifferent play - like Thomas Corneille's ''Ariane'' and ''Comte d'Essex'' - owed its success to her natural manner of acting, and her pathetic rendering of the hapless heroine. ''Phèdre'' was the climax of her triumphs. She and h ...
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La Grange (actor)
La Grange (1635 – 1 March 1692), whose real name was Charles Varlet, was a French actor and a member of the troupe of Molière. Early life Charles Varlet was the son of Hector Varlet and Marie de La Grange. The couple married in Paris on 9 May 1634 and moved to Montpellier soon thereafter. Charles was born in 1635 and baptized at Notre-Dame des Tables, Montpellier, on 8 March 1636, at the age of about 9 months. He had a younger brother, Achille Varlet (born 17 December 1636) and sister, Justine-Françoise (born 14 May 1638). After the birth of his sister the family left Montpellier and was in Paris in 1642 (Achille and Justine were baptised at the Église de Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs on 12 February 1642), but not long after the children lost their parents and became orphans. Career with the Molière company La Grange joined Molière's company in 1659, soon after they had returned to Paris from touring the provinces. Being young and attractive, he was the ''jeune premier'' ...
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Guénégaud Theatre
The Salle de la Bouteille or Salle du Jeu de Paume de la Bouteille, later known as the Hôtel eGuénégaud or Guénégaud Theatre, was a 1671 theatre located in Paris, France, between the rue de Seine and the rue des Fossés de Nesle (now 42 rue Mazarine, at its intersection with the rue Jacques Callot). It was across from the rue Guénégaud, which ran behind the garden of a townhouse formerly known as the Hôtel de Guénégaud on the quai de Nevers. The theatre was the first home of the Paris Opera and in 1680 became the first theatre of the Comédie-Française. It closed in 1689 and was later partially demolished and remodeled for other purposes. History Originally a tennis court (''jeu de paume'') that was converted into a theatre, it was inaugurated in 1671 as the first home of Pierre Perrin's Académie d'Opéra (see Paris Opera). The first French opera, Robert Cambert's '' Pomone'' with a libretto by Perrin, premiered there on 3 March of that year.Sadler 2001, p.180. B ...
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Paris Comedie-Francaise Exterior
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, gastronomy, and science. For its leading role in the arts and sciences, as well as its very early system of street lighting, in the 19th century it became known as "the City of Light". Like London, prior to the Second World War, it was also sometimes called the capital of the world. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an estimated population of 12,262,544 in 2019, or about 19% of the population of France, making the region France's primate city. The Paris Region had a GDP of €739 billion ($743 billion) in 2019, which is the highest in Europe. According to the Economist Intelligenc ...
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