“The True, Authentic Theatre of the People”: A French Stage Renaissance

February 6, 2014

Auditorium_at_Regent's_Park_Open_Air_TheatreDespite being a somewhat vintage form of entertainment, theatregoing remains a popular activity in the twenty-first century. Of course, when one typically thinks of going to a theatrical performance the usual venue imagined is an enclosed theatre space, such as the various stages found inside The Stratford Festival or The Grand Theatre. It is therefore presumed that the growing phenomena of open-air theatre is something new, such as the now popular Canadian Stage production of Shakespeare in High Park in Toronto, which features at least two of Shakespeare’s plays during the summer months in their outdoor amphitheatre. But in reality, open-air drama is a very old tradition that hails back to Ancient Greece and the medieval epoch, and neither was it just reawakened recently: The French accomplished that task as early as the 1920s.419px-Jacques_Copeau_001

In 1924, Jacques Copeau sought to repurify the theatre experience, weary of plays being performed in confined spaces before a limited number of spectators. In order to accomplish this desire, Copeau asked a close associate, Léon Chanceral, to rediscover “the beautiful sites of France, places of architectural nobility totally impregnated with a long history offering to the imagination and skill of a dramatic creator the opportunity for renewal and aeration, as well as a way to meet and commune in seasonal dramatic celebrations….” This rejuvenating endeavour began with Copeau and Chancerel initiating a widespread renaissance of open-air dramatic performances in France, roaming through the French provinces, performing in all sorts of out-of-the-ordinary venues, such as village squares and fields, not unlike troupes of the medieval period.

While Copeau’s dream was destined to fail, it did inspire another generation of dramatists to recapture his vision, taking open-air theatre to new heights four decades later, when between mid-May and early September, 1960, more than fifty-five Summer Festivals of Drama were in existence in almost every part of France. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the movement was led by Jean Vilar, whose teacher, Charles Dullin, had learned his trade as a faithful student of Copeau’s back in the day. Spectators from almost every conceivable social level attended these summer festivals—a revolution itself in terms of sociological patterns of French theatregoing.

Pursuing Copeau’s ideals, the plays put on by Vilar’s Théâtre National Populaire were often performed at historic sites of architectural nobility, including Roman amphitheatres and old French chateaux. These open-air theatre productions were considered the “crème de la crème” of French theatre, putting performers and audience under a mutual spell of enjoyment. This unanimous response was eloquently captured in a contemporary review, stating that such performances were “a delight which will not fade from our memories.”

“Drama under the stars” was, and still is, considered to be an unrivalled aesthetic that only Nature could provide human performance with. Witness the rebirth of man’s handiwork wedded with Nature’s creative genius as Kenneth S. White explores this concept in his article “The New Open-air Drama in France: Rediscovery and Renascence,” published in the journal Modern Drama in 1961.

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