Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Le Théâtre de Boulevard

2005; Oxford University Press; Volume: 59; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/fs/kni182

1468-2931

Kate Rees,

Historical and Literary Analyses

By Brigitte Brunet. Paris, Nathan. 2004. vi+152 pp. Pb €16.00. In her play, L'Étiquette (1983), Françoise Dorin plays with the contrast between theatregoers termed intellectuals, (I), and those called ‘cons,’ (C): ‘pratiquement, les I vont dans des théâtres pour I et les C vont dans des théâtres pour C.’ (L'Étiquette (Paris, L'Avant-Scène, 1983), act 1, 34). The theatres themselves may not have such labels, but the dramatists and actors do, suggests Dorin's character. Brigitte Brunet's Le Théâtre de Boulevard offers a systematic evaluation of a genre which receives comparatively little critical attention because it is has been thought of as drama for ‘cons’. An examination of performances enacted over a two-hundred-year period, in the theatres of the grands boulevards and the boulevard du Temple, this study attempts to provide fresh understanding of so-called popular theatre. It casts light on a range of plays and playwrights, from the late eighteenth century to the present day, including works by Eugène Scribe, Georges Feydeau, Jules Renard, Pagnol and Anouilh. Brunet sets out as her objective a desire to establish a global overview of boulevard theatre, while exploring the diversity of its sub-genres, such as vaudeville and realism. Carefully categorized chapters set out the history of such theatres and their appeal for the nineteenth-century bourgeois theatregoing public, before moving on to examine features of the plays under consideration. Observations move from a division into categories such as ‘boulevard sérieux’ and ‘boulevard comique’ to detail of the conventions of action, character, space and time, language and codes. This is a genre which relies on stock types and careful structure: its defining feature being the sense of complicity between dramatist, actor and audience as to expectations maintained or expectedly thwarted. Unlike the Theatre of the Absurd developing alongside it, it is rarely a comedy of silence or of bodily action, but, as drawing-room drama, one of word-play and of dialogue. It is a genre characterized by laughter and entertainment value, and Brunet attempts to define such laughter with reference to Bergson. As a second character in Dorin's play notes, there may be a distinction between theatregoers labelled (I) and (C), but popular drama can transcend this distinction through humour: ‘Moi je connais des I qui vont dans des théâtre pour C. Histoire de rigoler un bon coup.’ An overview rather than an analytical account, the systematic nature of Brunet's study ensures its coherence. Some depth is lost through the exhaustive division into numerous categories, and the attempt to show that this is a theatre offering a rich palette of styles does not always succeed: there is a lingering impression of the monolithic nature of the conventions governing this genre. It remains, however, a clear user-guide, an introduction to drama which is often overlooked and considered ‘easy’ when placed alongside Symbolist or Absurd works. A useful bibliography points the way for further investigation of boulevard drama.