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Richelieu, Louis XIII's Prime Minister, gains absolute power over France. Setting out to make France into the cultural center of Europe. (Brockett, 2015) -
Neoclassical ideals are put into place as the new standards for the world of theatre in France.
- Genres should only be limited to tragedy and comedy, they should never mix.
-Tragedy is only for upper class and comedy is for middle to lower class.
-Characters should always play their social status.
- All plays must be 5 acts
-All plays must be at a specific time or place.
- All plays should uphold "poetic justice."
(Brocket,2015) -
Seating inside of the theatres from 1636-1759 were mimicked after the seating in Italy. Now the only exception was that the seating in the French theatres was that the audience members were not only seated in the normal seating areas but was also seated on the stage. -
Created by Pierre Corneille, "Le Cid," becomes the most popular play written in France. "Le Cid," is considered to be a tragedy and follows a forbidden love story between Don Rodrigo and the Count's daughter, Chimene. The Count disapproves of the relationship and challenges Don. -
Pierre adopts the new mode for his playwrights. Later was perfected by Jean Racine, which was shown his 1677 playwright "Phaedra." These new plays written by Richelieu and Racine are considered to be serious plays throughout Europe. -
The first theatre in France was issued by Cardinal Richelieu. Richelieu had the theatre created with a proscenium arch and was placed in hid own palace. (Brockett, 2015) -
Moliere (1622-1673) started his career as an actor in 1643. He set the standard for the genre of comedy theatre. Moliere started out in a theatre company that toured across Paris and performed at the Richelieu's palace theatre. (Brockett, 2015) -
By 1950 all public and court theatres have been reconstructed to resemble into the picture-frame stages. Very similar to the Italian stages in Italy. (Brocket, 2015) -
Moliere wrote the play "Tartuffe". and then wrote a 2nd version of the play. Moliere's company attempted to perform the new version while Louis XIV was in Flanders, Belgium. But the President of Parliament banned the version of "Tartuffe," and the Archbishop issued that whoever was to perform this version of "Tartuffe" was to be excommunicated. (Brockett, 2015) -
Moliere scratched the 2nd version of "Tartuffe," and rewrote a 3rd version. This 3rd version of the play ended up becoming the most popular adaptation. It ended up having a run of 33 performances, which was the longest running show. (Brockett, 2015)