The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

s in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. 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 theatre in France to have its own permanent troupe of actors. The company's primary venue is the Salle Richelieu, which is a part of the Palais-Royal complex and located at 2, Rue de Richelieu on Place André-Malraux in the

1st arrondissement of Paris The 1st arrondissement of Paris (''Ier arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le premier'' (the first). I ...

. The theatre has also been known as the Théâtre de la République and popularly as "La Maison de Molière" (The House of Molière). It acquired the latter name from the troupe of the best-known playwright associated with the Comédie-Française,

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

. He was considered the patron of French actors. He died seven years before his troupe became known as the Comédie-Française, but the company continued to be known as "La Maison de Molière" even after the official change of name.

History

The Comédie-Française was founded on 8 August 1680 by a decree of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

merging the only two Parisian acting troupes of the time, the troupe of the Guénégaud Theatre and that of the Hôtel de Bourgogne. On the death of Molière in 1673, the troupe at the Guénégaud had been formed by a merger of the Théâtre du Marais and the Troupe de Molière. Two years later they received a royal grant of 12,000 livres per year; and seven years later they received their present designation. Thus the Comédie-Française may be said to have an unbroken tradition reaching back to the days of Molière. The company gave its first performance on 25 August 1680 at the Guénégaud. Its leading actors included Molière's widow, Armande Béjart, her husband, Guérin d'Estriché, La Grange, Mlle Champmeslé,

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

, Hauteroche, and Raymond Poisson. The repertoire consisted of the collection of theatrical works by Molière and

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tr ...

, along with a few works by

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage ...

, Paul Scarron and

Jean Rotrou Jean Rotrou (21 August 1609 – 28 June 1650) was a French poet and tragedian. Life Rotrou was born at Dreux, city of the current department of Eure-et-Loir, in Centre-Val de Loire region. He studied at Dreux and at Paris, and, though three ye ...

. In the 18th century, the Comédie-Française was often enjoyed by the French nobility, since the price to watch at the theater was expensive. On the performance of Joseph Chénier's anti-monarchical play ''Charles IX'' in 1789, violent political discussions arose among the performers, and ultimately they split into two sections: the Republican party, under the young tragedian Talma, establishing a new theatre under the name "Théâtre de la République," on the site of the present building in the Rue de Richelieu; while the Royalist section took the title "Théâtre de la Nation". On 16 April 1790 the theatre presented the world premiere of Pierre Laujon's '' Le Couvent, ou les Fruits du caractère et de l'éducation''; the first French play to feature a cast made up of only women. On 3 September 1793, during the French Revolution, the Théâtre de la Nation was closed by order of the

Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety () was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. Supplementing the Committee of General D ...

for putting on the allegedly seditious play '' Pamela'', and the actors were imprisoned though gradually released later. On 31 May 1799, the new government made the Salle Richelieu available and allowed the actors to reconstitute the troupe. The Comédie-Française today has a repertoire of 3,000 works and three theatres in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(Salle Richelieu, next to the Palais Royal;

théâtre du Vieux-Colombier The Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier is a theatre located at 21, rue du Vieux-Colombier, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1913 by the theatre producer and playwright Jacques Copeau. Today it is one of the three theatres in Paris ...

; Studio-Théâtre).

COVID-19 pandemic

Since October 2020, and because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Comédie-Française had to close as it is the case for all other theaters in France. The Comédie-Française having a permanent troupe of actors, it was decided to switch temporarily to an online program, including readings of the full text of ''

In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French author Marcel Proust. This early twen ...

'', and an online initiative called ''Théâtre à la table'' where actors of the troupe play works in the repertoire after a one week rehearsal. Online attendance for this initiative was unexpectedly high, including people outside of Paris and in other countries. In May 2021 Éric Ruf, the managing director of the Comédie-Française, declared that 30% of the public of the online program never went to the Comédie-Française, and that they would continue this program even after the reopening.

Theatre buildings

The Comédie-Française has had several homes since its inception in 1680 in the Salle Guénégaud. In 1689, it was established in a theatre across from the Café Procope. From 1770 to 1782, the Comédie performed in the theatre in the royal palace of the Tuileries. In 1782, the company moved into the Salle du Faubourg Saint-Germain, designed by architects Marie-Joseph Peyre and Charles De Wailly and located on the site of today's Odéon. Since 1799, the Comédie-Française has been housed in the Salle Richelieu (architect Victor Louis) at 2, rue de Richelieu. This theatre was enlarged and modified in the 1800s, then rebuilt in 1900 after a severe fire. The actress Jane Henriot was the only casualty of the fire.

Theatrical troupe

The membership of the theatrical troupe is divided into and . The former are regular members of the organisation and as such receive a pension after 20 years of service, while the latter are paid actors who may, after a certain length of service, become . The names of nearly all the great actors and dramatists of France have, at some time in their career, been associated with that of the Comédie-Française.

Homage to Molière

Every year on 15 January, the company performs an “Homage to Molière” on the anniversary of his christening and possibly his birth. Following that evening’s performance, which nowadays is free, all members of the troupe, and since 2009 of its academy, assemble on the stage behind a bust of Molière, wearing costumes of their choice from the theatre’s repertoire. They first process in ranks to bow to the audience’s applause. Each member then says a line from Molière’s plays, also applauded. In conclusion, the dean introduces to the audience the new members of the academy, the new , and the new , and has the departing applauded. The tradition was started in 1773 on the centenary of Molière’s death. In 1821, it was moved to his recently discovered christening date, and the next year approached its present form as the final scene of a play specially written by Justin Gensoul, . In the 19th century, '' The Imaginary Invalid'' was often performed on that date, as the final divertissement made it possible for the entire troupe to appear. Similar homages became popular at the Odéon, as well as in other theatres when these lost their privilege to perform Molière in 1864; however, the Comédie-Française is the only one that has maintained it. The (procession) of the

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...

, created in the 20th century, bears similarities to the homage.

Administrators of the Comédie-Française

The chief administrator of the Comédie-Française has been given the title ''administrateur général'' since Simonis' term of 1850. Before that, a variety of titles were given.

Notes

Bibliography

* Brockett, Oscar G.; Hildy, Franklin J. (2008). ''History of the Theatre'', tenth edition. Boston: Pearson. . * Clarke, Jan (1998). ''The Guénégaud Theatre in Paris (1673–1680). Volume One: Founding, Design and Production''. Lewiston, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press. . * Gaines, James F. (2002). ''The Molière Encyclopedia''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. . * Hartnoll, Phyllis, editor (1983). ''The Oxford Companion to the Theatre'' (fourth edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. . * Laugier, Eugène (1853). ''Documents historiques sur la Comédie-Française pendant le règne de S. M. l'Empereur Napoléon Ier''. Paris: Firmin-Didot. Copie
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Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. * Maurice, Charles (1860). ''Le Théâtre-Français, monuments et dépendances'', second edition, revised and enlarged. Paris: Garnier. Copie
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. * Sanjuan, Agathe; Poirson, Martial (2018). ''Comédie-Française: une histoire du théâtre''. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. . * Trowbridge, Simon (2020). ''The Comédie-Française from Molière to Éric Ruf''. Oxford: Englance Press. . * Wild, Nicole (2012). ''Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens (1807–1914)''. Lyon: Symétrie. . .

External links

Comédie-Française's website

The Comédie Française Registers Project
includes performances from 1680 to 1791. {{DEFAULTSORT:Comedie-Francaise 1680 establishments in France Theatres in Paris National theatres Buildings and structures in the 1st arrondissement of Paris Theatre companies in France Opera history