Chappuzeau and the Performance of French Classical Drama

Abstract

Chappuzeau's Le Théâtre françois was published in 1674, being the first description of day-to-day operations in the Paris theatres as well as containing several arguments in favour of drama and against the doctrinaires who opposed it. A slightly earlier version of the work, in an autograph manuscript dedicated to the newly established Guénégaud theatre company, offers evidence of the author's more robust references to Catholic clergy and greater exuberance in his comments on authors and their works and on the acting profession. Taken together with remarks contained in two printings of Chappuzeau's L'Europe vivante (1666–67), the 1673 text provides a setting for information about performance days, premières and seasonal preferences which, although retained in the printed edition, does not accord with what is known of actual practice.