Écrits sur l'art théâtral (1753–1801) (review)

In these two hefty tomes, Sabine Chaouche has compiled a vast array of key texts on the actor's craft, many of which have not been published since the eighteenth century. The two volumes adopt different yet complementary perspectives. The first focuses on the writings of the interested amateurs of the theatre (the 'spectateurs', who dominated theoretical discussions between 1745 and 1775): Marmontel's Encyclopédiearticle 'Déclamation théâtrale', Dorat's didactic poem La Déclamation théâtrale, Diderot's Observations sur [. . .] Garrick, the Prince de Ligne's Lettres à Eugénieand Tournon's L'Art du comédien. In the second volume, the writings of professional actors take centre stage: d'Hannetaire's Observations sur l'art du comédien, Mlle Clairon's Réflexions sur l'art dramatiqueand Dorfeuille's Les Éléments de l'art du comédien. These eight main texts are each supplemented by between two and four thematically related (and sometimes themselves very substantial) pieces. The critical apparatus is, in line with Chaouche's avowed aim to be 'la plus didactique possible' (I, 41), most impressive; each of the thirty texts published boasts a full introduction and often copious explanatory notes, contextual information, variants, and so forth. Chaouche also provides a chronology of the key moments in theatrical theory and practice in eighteenth-century France, a dossier on the major, 'mythic' actors of the period, a glossary of technical vocabulary and an ample collection of illustrations.

Yet this edition does more than bring together the essential texts of eighteenth-century acting theory. Reflecting her argument that the Enlightenment considered the actor's craft less as 'un objet théorique (les règles de l'art)' than as 'un objet philosophique qui passe par l'observation et la réflexion' (I, 14), Chaouche remains alert to the wider intellectual, philosophical and argumentative processes at work in debates about acting. Indeed, her edition 'se veut une philosophie de l'art théâtral au siècle des Lumières, d'après les écrits de spectateurs et d'acteurs' (I, 17). A particular merit of this study is Chaouche's attention not just to what is said about the actor and acting but also to questions of form, style and genre. As becomes clear, the texts she presents do not just reflect a debate about what constitutes good acting; they also reconstruct an implicit debate on how best to write about acting. Accordingly, Chaouche is very attentive to the tensions between the essentially transient, ad hoc craft of the actor and the various discourses that attempt to pin this craft down, whether to explain, analyse or to preserve it — as becomes particularly clear in her introduction to the very substantial dossier on the major actors of the period at the end of the second book (II, 808-9). There is only one major drawback to this otherwise invaluable resource: although Chaouche wishes her edition to be of value not only for academic readers but also for 'toute personne s'intéressant à l'art théâtral' (I, 41), the price of these two volumes will prove prohibitive for all but the most dedicated (or wealthiest) theatre enthusiasts.