Theatre Presentation: France and Moliere

1. Theatre Presentation:FranceandMoliere By Jesse Tabernaberri and Geoffrey Webber

2. Neoclassical France • Neoclassicism emerged during turbulenttimes in France, in the early sixteenth century • After the French Revolution, France became a democracy. French government was to be modelled on the high virtues and moral principles of classical Rome • Neoclassical artists created paintings and sculptures that depicted inspirational scenes from Roman history • Architecture and interior design began to reflect the neoclassical period.

4. Neoclassical Theatre • Began to develop in the 16th century • Had a great effect on writing, scenic design, and production • Comedies of this time used farce and principles of Commédia dell'Arte • Plays based on unity of time, action, place, etiquette if a play was a neoclassical piece • Costumes and scenery were very intricate and elaborate • Acting characterized by large gestures and melodrama.

5. Theatre cont’d • Church plays were bannedin 1548 by because of the religious uproar during this period • This ban dealt a painful blow to French theatre, but allowed secular theatre to develop. • In this time the French language was encouraged to be written in plays, strengthening culture.

6. Palais royal, where Moliere and other neoclassical playwrights performed

7. End of Neoclassicism • Neoclassicism came to an end when there were only two theatres left in Paris • French politics became more and more conservative. • By 1680, the great period of French Playwriting was over • Molière’s company merged with the Marais Theatre to form the Comèdie Française, the first (and still existing) national theatre.

8. French Social Structure • There were 17,000 to 25,000 noble families in the neoclassical period • Estimates of individuals range from 80,000 to 350,000. • Nobles accounted for 0.05% of the 28 million people in the French population

9. Social Structure cont’d • A family's prestige was determined by: • how long had a given family been noble • into what other families did it marry • what positions its members achieved and what offices they held • what actions they performed • Arranged marriages were common, mainly business relationships created desire and/or need for property, monetary or political alliances. • The revolution abolished the feudal system, however titles were reintroduced in 1806 by Napoleon

10. Bibliography • http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/noblesse.htm • http://www.stage-lighting-museum.com/museum/images/history-2/jpg/Richelieu-Palace-i.jpg • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Richelieu • http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/neocfrance.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_nobility • http://everything2.com/title/Moli%25E8re • http://people.brynmawr.edu/cwillifo/ParisPlayhouses/partthree_text.shtml • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_theatre#Neoclassical_theatre • http://www.librarything.com/subject/Social+classes%09France%09History%0918th+century • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_peerages • http://genealogy.about.com/cs/timelines/a/romance_history.htm