The théâtre d'Orsay was a

theater 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 ...

located on the

rive gauche The Rive Gauche (, ''Left Bank'') is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two parts. When facing downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank (or ''Rive D ...

of the Seine, in the

7th arrondissement of Paris The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''le septième''. The arrondissement, called Palais-Bourbon in a r ...

It was inaugurated in 1972 in the former

gare d'Orsay Gare d'Orsay is a former Paris railway station and hotel, built in 1900 to designs by Victor Laloux, Lucien Magne and Émile Bénard; it served as a terminus for the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (Paris–Orléans Railway). It was the f ...

originally conceived by the architect

Victor Laloux Victor Alexandre Frederic Laloux (15 November 1850 – 13 July 1937) was a French Beaux-Arts architect and teacher. Life Born in Tours, Laloux studied at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts ''atelier'' of Louis-Jules André, with his studies i ...

in 1898.

Jean-Louis Barrault Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage. Biography Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundia ...

installed a removable wooden structure, and presented there very varied shows. The greatest successes will be ''Sous le vent des îles Baléares'' by

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early lif ...

, '' Isabella Morra'' by

André Pieyre de Mandiargues André Pieyre de Mandiargues (14 March 1909 – 13 December 1991) was a French writer born in Paris. He became an associate of the Surrealists and married the Italian painter Bona Tibertelli de Pisis (a niece of the Italian metaphysical pai ...

, '' Ainsi parla Zarathoustra'', a piece of incidental music by Pierre Boulez after the book by

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...

, ''Les Nuits de Paris'' by

Restif de la Bretonne Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne, born Nicolas-Edme Rétif or Nicolas-Edme Restif (; 23 October 1734 – 3 February 1806), also known as Rétif, was a French novelist. The term '' retifism'' for shoe fetishism was named after him (an early nov ...

, and also ''Zadig'' after

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

or '' The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs'' based on a novella by the British novelist George Moore. However, the station had to be vacated to become the musée d'Orsay. In 1981, the troupe moved to the ''Palais de Glace'' which then became the

Théâtre du Rond-Point The Théâtre du Rond-Point is a theatre in Paris, located at 2bis avenue Franklin-D.-Roosevelt, 8th arrondissement. History The theatre began with an 1838 project of architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff for a rotunda in the Champs Elysees. Inau ...

, where Barrault resettled a wooden structure identical to that of the théâtre d'Orsay.

External links

les Archives du spectacle

la Compagnie affable

Orsay Orsay () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. A fortified location of the Chevreuse valley since the 8th centur ...

Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris {{France-theat-struct-stub