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6 entertainment, Theater, and the Colonies (1870–1914) sylvie Chalaye during the first half of the nineteenth century, theatrical representations of the colonies depicted lands where slavery reigned. The plays were essentially melodramas condemning the cruelty of colonials and their unpitying harshness. after 1848 and the abolition of slavery, the theme quickly grew out of fashion. The West indies were relegated to the status of “old colonies,” and colonial aspirations were turned instead toward africa. outside of the second empire’s conquests, africa was very rarely represented on stage before 1860. However, along with the great travel expeditions, it soon became the kind of exotic locale the bourgeoisie craved to see, and made for sumptuous sets that responded to their reveries. The theater, art of the magic lantern, granted the public a three-dimensional exoticism that had already begun to be distilled in literature. The young were particularly captivated by the kinds of adventures told by david livingstone and John Hanning speke. Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera, from eugène scribe’s libretto L’Africaine (1865), was one of the first successful stage productions to feature the exotic locales reported daily by explorers. Moreover, the public was so delighted by the set that a mock-up was kept.1 and yet, several years later, theaters and music halls were still scrambling to satisfy public curiosity. in 1878, the Folies-Bergère put Les Zoulous on the program, and the Châtelet Theater produced adolphe Belot’s La Vénus noire, a show worthy of Jules verne for those who dreamed of travel and discovery . Paul de saint-victor, in the Moniteur universel of september 8, 1879, describes its striking bestiary as follows: “The tableau of the ‘caravan’ crossing the niamniam countries forms a picturesque procession. every animal from the torrid zone parades by: a little giraffe leads the way, and then come the white dromedaries , zebras, mules, sharp-silhouetted greyhounds, long-horned nubian cows, black monkeys barely distinguishable from the leaders of the expedition. it brings to mind the exit to an african ark.” The set designers at the Châtelet Theater looked to travel narratives by explorers like schweinfurth for local color. This lively and animated reconstitution of africa drew large crowds, and succeeded in feeding public curiosity. adolphe Belot and the Châtelet Theater had thus created a new theatrical genre that would 116 Entertainment, Theater, and the Colonies | 117 prove essential in gaining public support for colonial conquest. it also served to justify the legitimacy of the Third republic and its projects. one notices a striking redundancy in the portrayal of colonial-native relations from the end of the nineteenth century up until the interwar period. These mental models profoundly and durably structured the relations between the French populace and the people from the colonies, to the point that remnants are still to be found to this day. Moreover, theater played an important part in the shaping of a colonial culture in France. exoticism, the Background to French victory at the outset, the first plays to take up this “colonial” trend supported military campaigns overseas, and lauded the first major French victories. The public went for the colorful and picturesque sets, and were also treated to colonial propaganda, a celebration of republican nationalism. For the July 14, 1891, celebration at the Bois de Boulogne, e. Gugenheim and G. lefaure produced a piece titled Cinq Mois au Soudan, a military pantomime glorifying the French army’s victory over samory. a year later, in the same vein, they produced (with F. oswald this time) Au Dahomey at the Porte saint-Martin Theater. The play was a hit, for not only did it treat its spectators to spectacular sets, but it also glorified the deeds of French soldiers. one of Entr’acte’s critics, rené doumic, openly exulted on december 12, 1892: “alas, it has been a long time since we have seen a theater play celebrating a glorious war, glorious indeed for France. Colonel dodds’ marvelous campaign in dahomey has afforded us this quite unexpected opportunity to see one.” in response to public enthusiasm, Au Dahomey played at almost every theater in Paris, as well as in the provinces.2 The revues also succumbed to this trend. starting in February 1893, the Bataclan began staging Béhanzin ou la Prise de Kana. and most revues produced a piece dedicated to dahomey, as in the case of the Gaîté-rochechouart revue, with its Muselez-les and its supposed patriotic couplets...

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