Historical Dictionary of French Theater

337 Pages·2010·3.14 MB·English

by  Edward Forman

Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts
Jon Woronoff, Series Editor
1. Science Fiction Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2004.
2. Hong Kong Cinema, by Lisa Odham Stokes, 2007.
3. American Radio Soap Operas, by Jim Cox, 2005.
4. Japanese Traditional Theatre, by Samuel L. Leiter, 2006.
5. Fantasy Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2005.
6. Australian and New Zealand Cinema, by Albert Moran and Errol
Vieth, 2006.
7. African-American Television, by Kathleen Fearn-Banks, 2006.
8. Lesbian Literature, by Meredith Miller, 2006.
9. Scandinavian Literature and Theater, by Jan Sjåvik, 2006.
10. British Radio, by Seán Street, 2006.
11. German Theater, by William Grange, 2006.
12. African American Cinema, by S. Torriano Berry and Venise Berry,
2006.
13. Sacred Music, by Joseph P. Swain, 2006.
14. Russian Theater, by Laurence Senelick, 2007.
15. French Cinema, by Dayna Oscherwitz and MaryEllen Higgins,
2007.
16. Postmodernist Literature and Theater, by Fran Mason, 2007.
17. Irish Cinema, by Roderick Flynn and Pat Brereton, 2007.
18. Australian Radio and Television, by Albert Moran and Chris Keat-
ing, 2007.
19. Polish Cinema, by Marek Haltof, 2007.
20. Old Time Radio, by Robert C. Reinehr and Jon D. Swartz, 2008.
21. Renaissance Art, by Lilian H. Zirpolo, 2008.
22. Broadway Musical, by William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird,
2008.
23. American Theater: Modernism, by James Fisher and Felicia Hardi-
son Londré, 2008.
24. German Cinema, by Robert C. Reimer and Carol J. Reimer, 2008.
25. Horror Cinema, by Peter Hutchings, 2008.
26. Westerns in Cinema, by Paul Varner, 2008.
27. Chinese Theater, by Tan Ye, 2008.
28. Italian Cinema, by Gino Moliterno, 2008.
29. Architecture, by Allison Lee Palmer, 2008.
30. Russian and Soviet Cinema, by Peter Rollberg, 2008.
31. African American Theater, by Anthony D. Hill, 2009.
32. Postwar German Literature, by William Grange, 2009.
33. Modern Japanese Literature and Theater, by J. Scott Miller,
2009.
34. Animation and Cartoons, by Nichola Dobson, 2009.
35. Modern Chinese Literature, by Li-hua Ying, 2010.
36. Middle Eastern Cinema, by Terri Ginsberg and Chris Lippard,
2010.
37. Spanish Cinema, by Alberto Mira, 2010.
38. Film Noir, by Andrew Spicer, 2010.
39. French Theater, by Edward Forman, 2010.
40. Choral Music, by Melvin P. Unger, 2010.
Historical Dictionary
of French Theater
Edward Forman
Historical Dictionaries of
Literature and the Arts, No. 39
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2010
Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2010 by Edward Forman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Forman, Edward.
Historical dictionary of French theater / Edward Forman.
p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of literature and the arts; no. 39)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8108-4939-6 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8108-7451-0 (ebook)
1. Theater—France—Biography—Dictionaries. 2. Theater—France—
Dictionaries. 3. Dramatists, French—Biography—Dictionaries. I. Title.
PN2637.F67 2010
792.0944’03—dc22 2009046246
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Since 1978, well over 2,000 Bristol undergraduates,
master’s students and doctoral students have followed
modules related to French theater.
I dedicate this volume to them,
with gratitude for their boundless curiosity and enthusiasm.

Contents
Editor’s Foreword Jon Woronoff ix
Chronology xi
Introduction 1
THE DICTIONARY 17
Bibliography 259
About the Author 307
vii

Editor’s Foreword
Most national theaters are just that—national. The bulk of the plays are
written for domestic consumption, and unfortunately few dramatists,
let alone actors or directors, are known abroad. That is sad but under-
standable since English has become the most widely known and used
language and since Shakespeare and his successors have contributed so
much to world theater. But French is a clear runner-up. Indeed, French
theater sometimes took the lead, with Corneille, Racine, and Molière,
and in the Romantic era with Alexander Dumas and the surrealist
works of Alfred Jarry. But never was it more so than when the Theater
of the Absurd erupted in rationalistic France with Samuel Beckett and
Eugène Ionesco (not actually Frenchmen but writing in French) and
Jean-Paul Sartre. More recently one can look to Michel Vinaver and
Yasmina Reza.
Where French theater has never been exceeded, however, is in its
passion, which keeps the legitimate stage going and the somewhat less
than legitimate stage bubbling over at all times. A larger percentage
of French citizens than almost anywhere else like and go to theater
because they want to and not because they are supposed to. And they
have taken drama in the broadest sense out of the “theater” and into the
public space, as well as countless festivals.
This long and often impressive history is presented in the latest addi-
tion to the growing circle of Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the
Arts. It contains a clear history in both the chronology and introduction,
which trace the most important events over six centuries. The dictionary
examines some of the most significant playwrights, actors, directors,
managers, and plays themselves. While many are well known, others
have been largely forgotten and deserve mention, both to show their
contributions when they were in their prime and to illustrate that French
theater has an amazing depth that is not always recognized. Those who
ix