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 Jacques Ignace Hittorff or, in German, Jakob Ignaz Hittorff (, ) (Cologne, 20 August 1792 – 25 March 1867) was a German-born French architect who combined advanced structural use of new materials, notably cast iron, with conservative Beau ...

for a rotunda in the Champs Elysees. Inaugurated in 1839, this structure was integrated with other Hittorff buildings for the

Exposition Universelle (1855) The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des B ...

and destroyed the following year. A new replacement panorama, Le Panorama National, was designed by architect

Gabriel Davioud Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud (; 30 October 1824 – 6 April 1881) was a French architect. He worked closely with Baron Haussmann on the transformation of Paris under Napoleon III during the Second Empire. Davioud is remembered for his contribution ...

at the corner of the Avenue d'Antin (now Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt) and the Champs-Élysées. In December 1893, the rotunda became the Palais de Glace (Ice Palace), one of the most popular attractions of

Belle Epoque Belle may refer to: * Belle (''Beauty and the Beast'') * Belle (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Belle (surname), a list of people Brands and enterprises * Belle Air, a former airline with headquarters in Tirana, Albania ...

Paris. In the post-war years, the Theatre du Rond-Point was one of the principal venues—along with the Theatre Marigny and the

Theatre de l'Odeon 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 ...

—where the Madeleine Renaud-

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 ...

Company introduced the world to many of the plays of

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work ...

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an ad ...

, and

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

. The theatre was managed by Jean-Louis Barrault from 1958 to 1968, when he was dismissed from the

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 ...

during the student uprising in the spring of that year. The theatre was renovated in 1981. Further renovations in were done in 2002 under the directorship of

Jean-Michel Ribes Jean-Michel Ribes (born 15 December 1946, in Paris) is a French playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, film maker and actor. Since 2002 he has been the managing director of the Théâtre du Rond-Point. Between 1982 and 1984 Ribes had directed ...

. The theatre is now devoted to the work of living authors.

References

External links

Official website
Rond-Point Buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris World's fair architecture in Paris {{France-theat-struct-stub