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André Antoine's Initial Classical Experiment: The 1904 King Lear

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2010

Langdon Brown
Langdon Brown
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Bridgeport.
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Extract

Like other major theatre artists at the turn of the twentieth century, André Antoine sought a new theatrical style to replace the dominant strain of realism. His development of naturalism and his championing of the cause of the school of Becque, Brieux, and Jullien are commonplaces of theatre history, but Antoine's efforts to extend his style, chiefly by applying it to a repertory of classical plays, have not received a great deal of attention. While it is easier to consign Antoine to a naturalistic pigeon hole, a consideration of the innovative course of his later career might help illuminate our similarly eclectic era.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 22 , Issue 1: French Theatre , May 1981 , pp. 91 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1981

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References

NOTES

1 The notable exception is an overview by Brockett, Oscar, “Antoinc's Experiments in Staging Shakespearean and Seventeenth Century French Drama,” in Studies in Theatre and Drama: Essays in Honor of Hubert C. Heffner (The Hague, 1972), pp. 195–209Google Scholar. On this point see also Antoine, A. P., “Le naturalisme d'Antoine: une légende,” in Réalisme et Poésie au Théâtre, ed. Jacquot, Jean (Paris: 1960), pp. 233–40.Google Scholar

2 For further information see Rosenberg, Marvin, “King Lear in Germany, France, and Italy,” Theatre Survey, 9 (May, 1968), 1–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Bablet, Denis, “Antoine, mctteur-cn-scéne mal compris,” Théâtre et Université, 13 (March-April, 1968), 7–8.Google Scholar

3 Antoine, André, Mes Souvenirs sur le Théâtre Antoine et sur l'Odéon (Paris, 1928), p. 244Google Scholar. Hereafter I cite this work parenthetically in the text as Souvenirs. Translations from the French are my own, except for Copeau's critique (see note 10).

4 Antoine, André, “Causcrie sur la mise en scène,” Revue de Paris (April 1, 1903), p. 597.Google Scholar

5 See L'Illustration Théâtrale (December 17, 1904), p. 37.Google Scholar

6 The chart is from Massiac, Theodore, “Mise en scène du Roi Lear,” Revue Théâtrale, 3 (December, 1904), 567–68Google Scholar. The photographs are taken from Le Thîâtre, 146 (January 11, 1905), 12–24.Google Scholar

7 Senne, Camille Le, “Le Roi Lear,” Revue Théâtrale, 3 (December 1904), 565.Google Scholar

8 Ibid.

9 Flat, Paul, “Théâtres—Théâtre Antoine: Le Roi Lear de Shakespeare adapté par M. Pierre Loti et Vedel,” Revue Politique et Littéraire, 41 (1904), 794.Google Scholar

10 Copeau, Jacques, “King Lear at the Théâtre Antoine,” trans. Dukore and Gerould, Educational Theatre Journal, 19 (October 1967), 381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 Massaic, p. 567.

12 Antoine, , “Causcrie,” p. 597.Google Scholar

13 Antoine, , “Causerie,” p. 605.Google Scholar

14 Antoine, quoted in Towarnicki, Frederic “Antoine du Théâtre-libre à l'Odéon,” in Encyclopédie de Théâtre Contemporain (Paris, 1957), p. 46.Google Scholar

15 Pruner, Francis, Les Luttes d'Antoine au Théâtre-libre: le répertoire étranger (Paris, 1964), p. 67.Google Scholar

16 Copeau, p. 381.

17 This article was written with assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities. I am indebted to Marvin Carlson for bringing to my attention the potential for research into Antoine's later career.