Les Théâtres de société au XVIIIe siècle (review)

Eighteenth-century France was stage-struck. So much so that nobles and wealthy bourgeois were not satisfied with going out to the theatre; they also wanted the theatre to come to them. Hence, the vogue for amateur theatricals and théâtres de société right across France, with salons in private houses readily being turned into stages. This facet of the period’s théâtromanie has been the subject of a good deal of interdisciplinary research in recent years, many of the fruits of which are on offer in this excellent collection of 24 articles, based on the proceedings of the first ever conference to be devoted to the subject. The articles cover the whole of the eighteenth century and consider variously the physical conditions in théâtres de société, the works performed, the links between the repertoire and society in aesthetic, moral and political terms and, crucially, the sources of information about this seemingly ephemeral phenomenon, in particular correspondences, memoirs and periodicals of the time. What emerges most forcefully is the diversity of practice: stages and performances ranged from the simple to the sumptuous; actors were both amateur and professional; authors were both famous (Marivaux, Voltaire, Beau-marchais) and less well known (Gueullette, Grandval, Collé); and the works performed involved, in different measures, spoken drama, music, singing and dancing. What is clear, too, is that the théâtres de société occupied a central place in the evolving codes of eighteenth-century sociability: at a time when the ‘public sphere’ was famously taking shape, this ‘private’ world of the théâtres de société offered a productive counterpoint, even a testing ground for new works which, in some cases at least, would subsequently find a larger audience on the public stage. Particular highlights of the volume include Catherine Cessac’s analysis of the theme of night in the plays staged at Sceaux for the duchesse du Maine, a notorious insomniac; Dominique Quéro’s fascinating investigation into the future marquise de Pompadour’s early career on the stage at Étiolles; David Hennebelle’s wide-ranging account of the role of music in théâtres de société; Laurence Baudoux-Rousseau’s finely illustrated analysis of the architecture of a number of private stages in northern France and modern-day Belgium; Laurence’s Macé’s richly detailed account of the performances of French plays on private stages in Italy, demonstrating clearly the importance of private theatricals as a site of cultural dialogue and exchange; Stéphanie Massé’s judicious survey of representations of the body in clandestine erotic plays; Christophe Cave’s timely and sophisticated consideration of the problems involved in using the Mémoires secrets as a source of information about théâtres de société; and Catriona Seth’s analysis of representations of théâtres de société in a number of novels from the very end of the eighteenth century. In all, this is an excellent volume which will be of interest to anyone working on eighteenth-century French culture, theatrical or otherwise.