The Théâtre des Célestins () is a theatre building on the

Place des Célestins The Place des Célestins () is a square located in the Célestins quarter, in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. The square was named after the religious of the Order of the Celestines which were installed from 1407 to 1778. Redevelopment in 1995 ad ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, France. It was designed by

Gaspard André Gaspard André (16 March 1840 in Lyon - 12 February 1896 in Cannes) was a French architect, best known as the designer of the Theater of the Place des Célestins, the Fountain of the Place des Jacobins and the Grand Temple de Lyon in Lyon, the ...

, and inaugurated in 1877, then again in 2005. Alongside the

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 ...

and the Théâtre de l'Odéon, it is one of few theatres with over 200 years' continual usage in France. It is now a municipal theatre directly run by the City of Lyon. It has a contemporary and classical repertoire as well as producing new work.Base de données des lieux de diffusion culturelle en Rhône-Alpes
DRAC

History

The theatre and the square on which it stands are named after a convent and church of the

Celestine order The Celestines were a Roman Catholic monastic order, a branch of the Benedictines, founded in 1244. At the foundation of the new rule, they were called Hermits of St Damiano, or Moronites (or Murronites), and did not assume the appellation of Ce ...

, which occupied the site between 1407 and 1789. It was founded on the banks of the

Saône The Saône ( , ; ; ) is a river in eastern France (modern Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department an ...

on land seized from the

Templars The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a military order of the Catholic faith, and one of the most important military orders in Western Christianity. They were founded in 11 ...

by Amedee VIII of Savoy and given to the order. The order used the land until 1779. A 'Société des Célestins' then a 'Compagnie des Célestins' were formed in 1789 for "the establishment of a garden at the centre of the former Celestine lands, the construction of 17 houses around the garden, the distribution and repair of the cloister building to form 7 private houses, in one of which shall be built a theatre". The first theatre building was inaugurated on 9 April 1792.

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

attended a show at the theatre during the

Consulte de Lyon The Consulte de Lyon (consulta of Lyon) or consulte de la république cisalpine (consulta of the Cisalpine Republic) was an extraordinary meeting in the former chapel of the Jesuit college of the Trinity in Lyon during the French Consulate. It wa ...

in 1802. The first building later became too small and fell into disrepair before being completely destroyed in a fire in 1871. A competition was held to design a new one, which was won by Gaspard André - it was inaugurated on 1 August 1877 but damaged by fire on the night of 25–26 May 1880, with André called in to repair it. Several notable actors such as

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

and

Jean Marais Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais (11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), known professionally as Jean Marais (), was a French actor, film director, theatre director, painter, sculptor, visual artist, writer and photographer. He performed in over 100 f ...

have acted at the theatre. For 35 years Charles Moncharmont was its artistic director, during which time it hosted

Cécile Sorel Céline Émilie Seurre (7 September 1873 in Paris – 3 September 1966 in Trouville-sur-Mer), known as Cécile Sorel or the Comtesse de Ségur by marriage, was a French comic actress. She enjoyed great popularity and was known for her extravagant ...

Jules Berry Jules Berry (; born Marie Louis Jules Paufichet; 9 February 1883 – 23 April 1951) was a French actor. Biography Early life Berry and his two brothers were born to parents who sold hardware and settled in Poitou. The family moved to Paris in 1 ...

, Ludmilla and Georges Pitoeff,

Louis Jouvet Jules Eugène Louis Jouvet (; 24 December 1887 – 16 August 1951) was a French actor, theatre director and filmmaker. Early life Jouvet was born in Crozon. He had a Stuttering, stutter as a young man and originally trained as a pharmac ...

Charles Dullin Charles Dullin (; 8 May 1885 – 11 December 1949) was a French actor, theater manager and director. Career Dullin began his career as an actor in melodrama:185 In 1908, he started his first troupe with Saturnin Fabre, the ''Théâtre de Foire, ...

Elvire Popesco Elvira Popescu (; in French language, French, Elvire Popesco; 10 May 1894 – 11 December 1993) was a Romanian people, Romanian-French people, French stage and film actress and theatre director. During the 1930s and 1940s, she starred in a number ...

Sacha Guitry Alexandre-Pierre Georges "Sacha" Guitry (; 21 February 188524 July 1957) was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the boulevard theatre (aesthetic), boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French ac ...

Madeleine Renaud Lucie Madeleine Renaud (; 21 February 1900 – 23 September 1994) was a French actress best remembered for her work in the theatre. She did though appear in several films directed by Jean Grémillon including '' Remorques'' (''Stormy Waters'', 1 ...

Pierre Dux Pierre Dux (21 October 1908 – 1 December 1990) was a French stage director, stage actor, and film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1932 and 1990. Filmography References External links * 1908 births 1990 deaths Burials at ...

, Jean Weber and

Fernandel Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin (8 May 1903 – 26 February 1971), better known as Fernandel, was a French comic actor. Born in Marseille, France, to Désirée Bedouin and Denis Contandin, originating in Perosa Argentina, a town located in th ...

, as well as music-hall stars such as

Joséphine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...

Mistinguett Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois (5 April 1873 – 5 January 1956), known professionally as Mistinguett (), was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world. Early life The daughter of Antoine Bo ...

and

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven f ...

. Charles Gantillon succeeded Moncharmont in 1941, inviting

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; ; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre#Avant-garde, French avant-garde th ...

Armand Gatti Armand Gatti (; 26 January 1924 – 6 April 2017) was a French playwright, poet, journalist, screenwriter, filmmaker and World War II resistance fighter.Banham (1998, 413). His debut film ''Enclosure'' was entered into the 2nd Moscow Internation ...

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

and

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

. He also gave

Jorge Lavelli Jorge Lavelli (11 November 1932 – 9 October 2023) was an Argentine-born French theatre and opera director. He staged first plays and then opera, and in both fields, he was open to contemporary pieces without neglecting the classic repertoire. ...

Patrice Chéreau Patrice Chéreau (; ; 2 November 1944 – 7 October 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films '' La Reine Margot'' and ''I ...

, Edmond Tamiz and

Marcel Maréchal Marcel Maréchal (25 December 1937 – 11 June 2020) was a French actor, writer, and director. Biography Since 1958, Maréchal had a successful acting career. That year, he founded the Théâtre du Cothurne in Lyon. Other theatres he worked at ...

their first chances. On 26 January 1968

Albert Husson Albert Husson (3 August 1912 – 16 December 1978) was a French playwright and theatre director. On 26 January 1968, Jean Meyer and Albert Husson were both appointed directors of the Théâtre des Célestins in Lyon, which produced numerous ad ...

and Jean Meyer were made joint artistic directors. On Huson's death in 1978, Meyer took over alone. He was succeeded in 1985 by Jean-Paul Lucet (who had acted alongside Meyer's favourite actress,

Claude Jade Claude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade (; 8 October 1948 – 1 December 2006), was a French actress. She starred as Antoine Doinel#Christine Darbon, Christine in François Truffaut's three films ''Stolen Kisses'' (1968), ''Bed and B ...

, who had appeared in five plays at the theatre for him between 1975 and 1984). Claudia Stavisky became sole artistic director in 2000, until she was joined by Patrick Penot in 2002 then Marc Lesage in 2014. A major rebuild occurred between 2002 and 2005, creating a second auditorium, the Célestine, with capacity for 130 people.

References

External links

Official site of the Théâtre des Célestins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theatre des Celestins 1877 establishments in France Theatres completed in 1877 2nd arrondissement of Lyon Theatres in Lyon Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy Burned buildings and structures in France