The Café de la Gare is a dinner theater located at 41, rue du Temple in the
4th arrondissement of Paris
The 4th arrondissement of Paris (''IVe arrondissement'') is one of the twenty arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''quatrième''. Along with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd arrondissement ...
. It lies in a square hidden between
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...
and the historic
Marais district.
[Café de la Gare at theatreonline.com]
(in French) It was originally created in 1968 by a close-knit group of comedy actors who fixed up an old factory near the
Gare de Paris-Montparnasse
Gare Montparnasse (; Montparnasse station), officially Paris-Montparnasse, one of the six large Paris railway termini, is located in the 14th and 15th arrondissements.
The station opened in 1840, was rebuilt in 1852 and relocated in 1969 to ...
in the 14th arrondissement. It was not until 1972 that the Cafe moved to its present location where it has become the largest and most famous fringe theater in Paris with a house that seats 450.
History
When it was founded, the Cafe de la Gare was called a "dinner theater", a vague term which at the time, applied mainly to a tax category. However, it was never a coffee house, and there were never any tables or chairs, only benches for about 180 people, surrounding the three sides of a stage eight meters wide and five meters deep.
[
From the beginning the theatre was dedicated to mockery and farce. When the patrons arrived they had to draw lots determine the price of their seats. Once seated they were entitled to a drink and a cushion which the actors frequently threw in their face. Even the slogan of the theatre was brash:
"It's ugly, it's dirty, it's going to happen" (''C'est moche, c'est sale, c'est dans le vent.'')
A remarkable number of the founding members of the Café de la Gare went on to become famous. These include Romain Bouteille, Sotha, ]Coluche
Michel Gérard Joseph Colucci (, ; 28 October 1944 – 19 June 1986), better known under his stage name Coluche (), was a French stage comedian and cinema actor. He adopted ''Coluche'' as a stage name at age 26, when he began his entertainment ca ...
, Patrick Dewaere, Henri Guybet
Henri Guybet (born 21 December 1936) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than one hundred films since 1964.
Guybet started his career in dinner theater in the Café de la Gare, alongside Coluche and Miou-Miou in late 1960s. Gérard Oury ...
, and Miou-Miou
Sylvette Herry (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Miou-Miou (), is a French actress. A ten-time César Award nominee, she won the César Award for Best Actress for the 1979 film ''Memoirs of a French Whore''. Her other films incl ...
. At one time or another the company included Gérard Lanvin
Gérard Lanvin (; born 21 June 1950) is a César Award-winning French actor. He quit his studies when he was 17 to become an actor. He took on a role in '' Vous n'aurez pas l'Alsace et la Lorraine'' in 1977 on an offer from the actor Coluche. H ...
, Gérard Depardieu, Renaud
Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (), known as Renaud (), born 11 May 1952, is a French singer, songwriter and actor. His characteristically 'broken' voice makes for a very distinctive vocal style. Several of his songs are popular classics in F ...
, Thierry Lhermitte
Thierry Lhermitte (; born 24 November 1952) is a French actor, director, writer and producer, best known for his comedic roles. He was a founder of the comedy troupe '' Le Splendid'' in the 1970s, along with, among others, Christian Clavier, Gé ...
, Diane Kurys
Diane Kurys (; born 3 December 1948) is a French director, producer, filmmaker and actress. Several of her films as director are semi-autobiographical.
Personal life
Kurys was born in Lyon, Rhône, France, the younger of two daughters. She is ...
, Coline Serreau, Josiane Balasko
Josiane Balasko (born Josiane Balašković; 15 April 1950) is a French actress, writer, and director. She has been nominated seven times for César Awards, and won twice.
Career
One of Balasko's most recognized roles among English speakers is ...
, Anémone, and Gérard Jugnot
Gérard Jugnot (; born 4 May 1951) is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer.
Jugnot was one of the founders of the comedy ''troupe'' Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Cl ...
. Even the patrons of the cafe became famous; among the regulars over the years were Georges Moustaki
Georges Moustaki (born Giuseppe Mustacchi; 3 May 1934 – 23 May 2013) was an Egyptian-French singer-songwriter of Jewish Italo-Greek origin. He wrote about 300 songs for some of the most popular singers in France, including Édith Piaf, Dalida, ...
, Raymond Devos
Raymond Devos (; 9 November 1922 – 15 June 2006) was a Belgian-French humorist, stand-up comedian and clown. He is best known for his sophisticated puns and surreal humour.
Early life
Devos was born in Mouscron, Belgium, close to the Frenc ...
, Jean Ferrat
Jean Ferrat (born Jean Tenenbaum; 26 December 1930 – 13 March 2010) was a French singer-songwriter and poet. He specialized in singing poetry, particularly that of Louis Aragon. He had a left-wing sympathy that found its way into a few songs.
...
, Jacques Brel
Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...
, Pierre Perret
Pierre Perret (born 9 July 1934 in Castelsarrasin, Tarn-et-Garonne) is a French singer and composer. Pierre Perret resides in the city of Nangis.
Biography
He spent a long part of his childhood in the café which his parents owned, where he le ...
, and Jean Yanne
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Jea ...
.30th Anniversary of Café de la Gare
L'Express
''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''.
History ...
, August 15, 2002, (in French)
References
External links
*
Dewaere, Coluche, and Bouteille of the Café de la Gare Video, August 28, 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gare, Cafe De La
Theatres in Paris
Buildings and structures in the 4th arrondissement of Paris