Theater, one industry like any other ? The expansion of the European theatrical market dates from the second half XIXe century, as Christophe Charle explains in his latest book. Popular entertainment location, the theater allowed the Society of the show to stage its fantasies and hierarchies.
It is undoubtedly a book master that Christophe Charle offers us, whose work on intellectuals and elites in the XIXe century, become classics of social history. Already in his thesis (The literary crisis at the time of naturalismpublished in 1979), Christophe Charle was interested in the theater and, while writing an abundant work (fifteen books and a dozen works departments), he never stopped paying attention to this subject. The present book, whose preparation has requested no less than eleven years, is the result of this constant interest and its first merit is to brilliantly demonstrate that the history of the theater XIXe century, far from being just “ sector “Of cultural history, constitutes a bias of an extraordinary wealth to understand” tastes, expectations, lawful or illicit emotions, fantasies and social representations of that time (P. 10-11). By judiciously tightening his study on the period 1860-1914, Christophe Charle focuses on the moment when state guardianship on theaters is fused and when, become “ one industry like any other (P. 13), the theater is subject to the laws of competition and free trade. Likewise, by limiting his investigation in Paris, Berlin, London and Vienne, he gives him a precise and coherent framework which allows real comparisons. Perhaps we might regret that the opera was not taken into account when dramatic theater and lyric theater are, at XIXe century, closely nested. However, the variety of subjects studied is such that this remark cannot be a criticism. On the contrary, firmly supported on the research carried out in the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon worlds, and also on a perfect knowledge of the French bibliography (the part “ Sources and bibliography »Understands no less than thirty-seven pages !), Capitals theaters Offer to the French -speaking public a properly exceptional international opening. The book, moreover, is particularly rich in information, as evidenced by its sixty-one graphics, its twenty-two tables and its four cards, without counting the indexes of theaters, parts and names of people who facilitate access to the formidable documentation here united.
The theatrical market: men and structures
In the first part of the book (“ Show companies ), Christophe Charle applies the methods of social history to the world of theaters. Three chapters devoted to actors, directors and authors are supervised by a presentation of the theatrical market and by a study of successful genres. Christophe Charle first establishes that the XIXe century is good, as much as the XVIIIe century, the “ century of theaters And that the period he studies is characterized by a multiplication of rooms. A comparative social geography makes it possible to sketch a differential sociology of the rooms and to show that the theater, especially in Paris and London, is more and more reserved for the favored diapers, the new forms of spectacle (above all the coffee-concert) attracting popular spectators. The study then focuses on the figure of the theater director, unknown character but who has just been the subject of a collective publication (Theater directors (XIXe–XXe centuries), history of a professionunder the supervision of Pascale Goetschel and Jean-Claude Yon, publications of the Sorbonne, 2008) in which Christophe Charle participated. Stigmatized as “ traders ” Or “ show industrialists These directors direct companies whose lack of profitability is well highlighted here. Engaging in a comparative collective biography and then to a typology, Christophe Charle manages to account for the diversity of profiles and directorial strategies. As for the actors, it shows the digital growth and the feminization of this professional group and rightly insists on the fascination exercised by the dramatic profession. This one, which recruits especially in the middle classes, is nonetheless marked by a “ democratization Wealthier than you might think and through increased competition. Importance of training, career, financial success, variation in staff, places of residence, birth of a collective spirit: the survey is particularly excavated and enlightening here.
For dramatic authors, Christophe Charle relies, with regard to France, on the data provided by the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (Sacd) founded in 1829. It distinguishes three types of authors from Boulevard (literary, medium and popular), typology that specialists can contest but which is quite convenient and which realizes “ Subtile hierarchies (P. 172) that the general stigma in which this repertoire has erased. The study of the English, German and Austrian authors, anxious to benefit from the same advantages as their French counterparts, is exciting. The obstacles to the professionalization of dramatic authors in the Germanic world show in particular that the literary field is structured there in a very different way than in Paris and London. In the last chapter of this first part, Christophe Charle attacks the complex question of success and seeks to reconstruct “ expectations or taboos, limits or changes in the tastes of the public (P. 205) through the successes and failures of the pieces. It thus highlights a new production mode, characterized by a lower number of pieces and successes that hold the poster longer. The study of the respective success of the different genres is however not without posing some problems both due to the ambiguous status granted to the lyric theater in this counting, that of the fragility of these appellations and the progressive mixture of genres that characterize the XIXe century. The growing success of the entertainment theater is nonetheless an attested and in no way questionable fact.
Reception, traffic and representation
Christophe Charle opens the second part of his book (“ Companies in representation (s) ) By a prologue where he seeks to define the concept of “ theatrical societies By evoking various points: the adoption by the theater public of the second half of XIXe century of more behavior “ police », The importance of theatrical architecture, the impact of social images broadcast by the scene. This notion is then applied to London and Parisian cases through the study of their audiences, undertaken thanks to the examination of the names of theaters and then pricing policies. The progressive normalization of behavioral rituals at the theater is in London where, in the West End, there is a kind of “ Theatreland Which is mainly intended for a wealthy audience. In Paris, the increase in the price of places and the reduction in the number of cheap places lead to the elitization of theatrical consumption. The exit to the theater, in the heyday, becomes expensive. At the same time, the development of the worship of the actors (the “ Star System ) Significantly modifies the public report to the theater. The evolution of Parisian recipes shows, however, that after a crisis phase between 1885 and 1895, the theater regained a certain vitality before the Great War. In a second step, Christophe Charle looks at the issue of exporting the French repertoire – a subject also dealt with in a work published at the same time as his (French theater abroad. History of cultural supremacyunder the direction of Jean-Claude Yon, new world Éditions, 2008). Geographically and temporarily expanding his investigation, he shows that this French domination over foreign stages tends to weaken over the course of the XIXe century. After explaining the various processes of circulation of works and the role of intermediaries, Christophe Charle seeks to understand this fascination for the Parisian repertoire, a particularly complex phenomenon and to which one cannot bring a general explanation. So it is very judicious to insist, as he does, on the “ Plasticity of Parisian dramatic production (P. 343) which authorizes multiple receptions.
Attacking that he does not hesitate to name a “ taboo “(P. 355), Christophe Charle embarks on an ambitious socio -cultural analysis of the theatrical repertoire, from a sample of 106 Parisian pieces written between 1852 and 1900 and not without explaining his method of investigation at length, with great intellectual honesty. The conclusions he draws on various themes (for example the place of women or that of workers) are undoubtedly interesting but we are entitled to question the value to be given to them as they depend on the approach adopted. While welcoming the tour de force that this attempt represents, the author of this report admits being more sensitive to the theme addressed in the following chapter, namely the moral and political surveillance exerted on the theater by the authorities. On this ground, certainly more traditional, Christophe Charle delivers a beautiful synthesis of the scandals which, from the Goncourt to Bernstein via Sardou, enamelled the Parisian theatrical life of the XIXe century. The study is continued in the other three capitals and shows very variable tolerance degrees, through major cases such as the prohibition and then the authorization of Weaver from Hauptmann to Berlin in 1892 or the ban on Professor Bernhardi From Schnitzler to Vienna in 1912 (the play was not created until 1918). The appearance of an avant-garde theater, on the other hand, is treated in a (long) epilogue where the resistance of the theatrical world at the “ modernity – whether it is embodied in naturalism or symbolism – is well highlighted. The European perspective adopted throughout the book is very useful here to underline the alliance of international avant-garde.
In a five-page post-scriptwt “entitled” From one show to the other », Christophe Charle sketches a parallel between the Society of the show of XIXe century and today. The subject is barely developed, as if the author was somewhat exhausted at the end of a long and rich course. We would be unless … Capitals theaters offers so many analyzes, development and research tracks that the reader comes out somewhat dizzy, such as the spectator of XIXe century at the end of the representation of a play with a high spectacle. Of course, we may not adhere to all the ideas issued by Christophe Charle, even think that his approach, defined as “ objectivist and social “(P. 241), is not able to explain everything, as the book suggests tacitly … However, precisely, it is by its intellectual ambition that this work seduces and forces admiration. We must congratulate Christophe Charle for having dared to conceive such a broad and complete study of the theater XIXe century and, above all, to have given so much importance on this subject. He alone was able to treat him in four countries at the same time and under such a large number of facets. It is a good fortune for the cultural history of XIXe century.