''Pratique du théâtre'' (English:''Theater Practice'') is a 1657 book on the

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

by the French author

François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac (4 August 1604 in Paris – 27 July 1676) was a French author and cleric. The father of François Hédelin was Claude Hédelin, a lawyer at the Parliament, and his mother Catherine Paré, the daughter of the ...

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

had consulted him for ideas on unified standards for French stage productions. As Marvin Carlson noted in the introduction to a translation, "D’Aubignac, who hoped to become the first director of a national theatre, drew up recommendations on architecture, scenery, stage morality, seating, and control of audiences". Richelieu exhorted him to draw up a baseline for the French theatre, a "guidebook for would-be dramatists". The work did become the standard for actors, directors, and producers of the stage in France for much time to come. Some of his guidelines include the need for credibility (vraisemblance), economy in the size of the cast, and the absence of scene or character shifts.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Hedelin-abbe-dAubignac Britannica

References

1657 books {{Theat-stub