Un événement unique: le théâtre de la Révolution entre surgissement et disparition

Abstract

 The theatre of the French Revolution is particularly suitable for a reflection on the ephemeral nature of theatre. Primarily, because it has disappeared from our stages, and secondly because it constantly confronted the contradiction between its aspiration to be part of History, at the very foundations of an eternal French Republic, and the reality of short-lived historical events that vanished as soon as they appeared. Its ambition was to fix what was slipping away – new customs, political dreams, current circumstances – and to inscribe them within performance and to intervene in the historical process, which is by definition ever-changing. The theatrical performance itself, which fixed meaning and often contradicting the text, had never played such a significant role, not only through the interaction of actors, sets, and costumes but also between the performance, the audience, and the historical circumstances.