Isabelle Mestivier (or more rarely Elizabeth Mestivier), stage name Mademoiselle Le Noir (fl. 1631 – fl. 1647), was a French stage actress. Scott, Virginia (2010). '' Women on the stage in early modern France : 1540-1750''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .

Life

She is first mentioned in 1631. She was the daughter of the actor Francois Mestivier (fl. 1622). On an unknown date, she married the actor

Charles Le Noir Charles Le Noir or Lenoir (first active 1618; died 9 August 1637) was a French actor-manager, who was a member of the troupe of the Prince of Orange from at least 1622, sometimes named as a co-founder with the actor Montdory of the Théâtre du Ma ...

(fl. 1618), who was active in the same travelling theatre company as her father.

Career

She was engaged in 1631 the troupe of Charles Le Noir and Guillaume Des Gilberts/Mondory, which was later to become the

Théâtre du Marais The Théâtre du Marais has been the name of several theatres and theatrical troupes in Paris, France. The original and most famous theatre of the name operated in the 17th century. The name was briefly revived for a revolutionary theatre in 1791, ...

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

wrote plays for the theatre, and all but one contained two female roles, the “premiere” and “heroine” role. Between 1629 and 1634, only two actresses were employed by the theatre and able to play these roles, Mlle Le Noir (Isabelle or Elizabeth Mestivier) and Mlle de Villiers (

Marguerite Béguin Marguerite Béguin, stage name Mademoiselle de Villiers (fl. 1627–1670), was a French stage actress. Scott, Virginia (2010). '' Women on the stage in early modern France : 1540-1750''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . She was the aunt of ...

), it has often been assumed that he wrote the plays with them in mind. They performed a range of genres, tragicomedy, pastoral as well as comedy. However, it is seldom documented which of them played which part in the plays. In December 1634, she was one of six actors to join the

Hôtel de Bourgogne (theatre) Hôtel de Bourgogne was a theatre, built in 1548 for the first authorized theatre troupe in Paris, the Confrérie de la Passion. It was located on the rue Mauconseil (now the rue Étienne Marcel in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris), on a site tha ...

on the king's command. She was a popular actress, which was said to have "delighted everyone with her liveliness and her pleasing little ways". She was also a talented stage artist, and played a part of the reintroduction of tragedy on the French stage. While it is seldom documented who played which part in the theatre of the 1630s, she is likely to have played the title role in ''Sophonisbe'' by Jean Mairet, which restored tragedy to the Paris stage in 1634. The contemporary chronicler Tallemant described the Parisian actresses of the 1630s. He referred to Mlle Bellerose as a “good actress”, Mlle Valliot as “as beautiful a person as one could see,” Mlle Le Noir as a “as pretty a little person as one could find,” Mlle Baron as “very pretty, not a marvelous actress, but a success thanks to her beauty,” and Mlle Beaupré as “old and ugly.” Tallemant claimed that the playwright

Jean Mairet Jean (de) Mairet (10 May 160431 January 1686) was a classical french dramatist who wrote both tragedies and comedies. Life He was born at Besançon, and went to Paris to study at the Collège des Grassins about 1625. In that year he produced ...

wrote several starring roles for Mlle Le Noir on the order of Mairet's patron comte de Belin, “and the troupe was comfortable with that.” There is however nothing to indicate that Le Noir had an affair with Belin, as has sometimes been claimed.

Later life

She retired from the stage in 1637, when her spouse was murdered. The same year, her spouse had acquired a house, and while not rich, she was well off enough to be able to support herself and her five children as a widow. Her son Francois Le Noir, stage name

La Thorillière François Le Noir, sieur de La Thorillière (c. 1626 – 27 July 1680) was a French comic actor, who was born and died in Paris.Mongrédien 1972, p. 107. Life La Thorillière was the son of Charles Le Noir, founder of the Théâtre du Marais (17t ...

, became an actor and the central figure of an acting family famous in contemporary Paris.

References

16th-century births 17th-century deaths 17th-century French actresses French stage actresses {{France-actor-stub