From the Fair Theatre to the Modern Circus

Abstract:

The expulsion of the Italian comedians in 1697, and their meeting with the acrobats of the fairs of Paris, boosted the experimental effervescence of the forain scene. Stage body and performance procedures were associated with the varieties. The equestrian exercises, brought to Paris by Philip Astley, complemented the scenic matrix of the future circus show: the montage of attractions. The professionalization of artists and the formation of companies were also crucial for the commercial organization of the fairs and the modern circus.

Keywords:
Fair Theater; Montage of Attractions; Modern Circus; Alard; Astley

Resumo:

O artigo aborda a expulsão do teatro oficial francês dos comediantes italianos, em 1697, e o encontro deles com os saltimbancos das feiras de Paris, fato que impulsionou a efervescência experimental da cena forain. Procedimentos cênicos corporais e performáticos se associaram aos números de variedades. Os exercícios equestres, trazidos a Paris por Philip Astley, complementaram a matriz cênica do futuro espetáculo circense: a montagem de atrações. Conclui-se que a profissionalização dos artistas e a formação de companhias também foram determinantes para a organização comercial do teatro das feiras e do circo moderno.

Palavras-chave:
Teatro de Feira; Montagem de Atrações; Circo Moderno; Alard; Astley

Résumé:

L’expulsion des comédiens italiens en 1697 et leur rencontre avec les saltimbanques des foires de Paris ont favorisé l’effervescence expérimentale de la scène foraine. Des procédures scéniques corporelles et performatiques ont été associées aux variétés. Les exercices équestres, apportés à Paris par Philip Astley, ont complété la matrice scénique du futur spectacle de cirque: le montage d'attractions. La professionnalisation des artistes et la formation de compagnies ont également été déterminantes pour l’organisation commerciale du théâtre des foires et du cirque moderne.

Mots-clés:
Théâtre de la Foire; Montage d’Attractions; Cirque Moderne; Alard; Astley

Introduction

The Saint-Germain and Saint-Laurent fairs in Paris were of paramount importance for the performing arts. The first had its beginnings in 1176. In 1482, it was officially recognized and authorized to operate. It lasted until 1789, in the surroundings of the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Près, from February 3 until Palm Sunday. The second lasted from 1344 to 1762 (when it was consumed by a fire) and was mounted on the outskirts of the abbey of Saint Lazarus. In the 18th century, it extended from August 9 to September 29¹⁶.

Figure 1
Title: Foire St. Germain a Parigi. Technique: Incision. 17th century. General view of the fair. Two stages of acrobats and comedians are visible: one on the far left and the other in the center, with a covering awning

Along with the trade in products and services, these fairs (Figure 1) held various artistic activities: theater, dance, singing, music, acrobatics, funambulism, puppet theater, shadow theater, trained animals, magic, pyrophagy, human eccentricities, such as conjoined twins, giants, dwarves, bearded women, etc. The repertoire was diverse and was decisive for the consolidation of a specific genre, the comic opera. The artistic experiences of the fairs led to the consolidation of a scenic procedure called montage of attractions¹⁷.

The diversification of the repertoire was closely related to the dispute between the artists of the fairs and the Comedians of the King, who were subsidized and, therefore, enjoyed privileges. The fair theater, in turn, had the box office and the public as determining factors of survival.

Parisian fairs experienced something that, at the time, was new in the field of show production: the organization of artistic troupes of a commercial nature. The companies were led by an entrepreneur, who sometimes performed the functions of first actor or actress and stage director.

The poetic procedures that supported the construction of a show based on autonomous and independent numbers, coupled with predominantly comic and farcical theater scenes, in addition to the commercial and business practice of administration and management of artistic initiatives, were decisive factors for the consolidation, at the end of the 18th century, of the modern circus.

The meeting of acrobats and comedians

The artistic and scenic presentations debuted at the fairs in 1595, when Jehan Courtin and Nicolas Poteau¹⁸, heads of a troupe of traveling artists, performed at the Saint-Germain fair (Campardon, 1877, v. 1). The troupe achieved significant public success, a fact that bothered the actors at the Hôtel de Bourgogne¹⁹, who, based on their privileges, requested a ban on the presentations. The request was immediately granted and followed by a strong reaction from the public, which called on the authorities for the company to be authorized to represent. The following year, they resumed their shows at the Saint-Germain fair.

In 1618, André Soliel and Isabel Le Gendre, who, according to Campardon (1877, p. 11, v. 1), “probably represented parades, he as Harlequin and she as Columbine”, asked the religious figures of Saint-Germain for authorization to perform at the fair and to build a theater on their land. The request was granted. Subsequently, the authorization was extended to puppeteers, rope dancers, animal trainers (wild and domestic) and all sorts of variety shows. From then on, the growth of Saint-Germain shows was continuous. In 1640, the fair gained notoriety and relevance, thanks to the diversified possibilities of entertainment, which attracted an increasingly large audience.

From that year onwards, as determined by the king, artistic presentations could only take place in venues with a fixed structure. The fair artists, abiding by the royal order, engaged in the construction of their small theaters, as they were called. The fixed spaces demanded a show of greater extension. Thus, it was necessary to form troupes bringing together artists and families, with autonomous numbers. There, the experimentation of a show composed of independent performances began, which imposed the challenge of seeking unity. The diversity of attractions should induce a cohesive spectacle.

The gathering of artists and family promoted the strengthening of leaders who, in addition to being artists, took responsibility for the scenic direction, management and administration of the troupes. The seeds of the organization of fair theater as a commercial enterprise were therefore sown. The show’s composition and corresponding forms of organization and production had the audience as a determining factor. The audience’s capacity was essential for the survival of the artistic enterprise and for the exercise of a professional scenic practice.

In 1678, the Saint-Germain fair saw its very first foraine theater, directed by brothers Charles (?-1711) and Pierre Alard. The scenic building was built in wood, in small dimensions, with simple and removable facilities. The Alard brothers brought together a troupe with 24 acrobats and actors of short comedic performances. The company had the participation of German Moritz Von der Beek (or Vondrebeck), aka Maurice (1649-1694), a former student of Charles Alard, who became the most famous and skilled acrobat at the fairs. The staging, that year, of The Forces of Love and Magic - Comic Fun in Three Interludes, caused the conjunction between theatrical representation and acrobatic games²⁰. In addition to the acrobats, the production featured two male roles (Zoroastro, a wizard in love with Gresinda, and Merlin, his valet) and a female role (Gresinda, a young shepherdess). There is no precise information about the artists who played the characters²¹. According to Heulhard (1878, p. 190), it was a “play of clowns, ennobled with dances”. In addition to the stage and rope dances and the interpretation of clowns, the production features silent acrobatic scenes, performed on the ground and on platforms.

Fair theaters, in general, had a platform as scenic apparatus, a platform on which they conducted the actions, or, rather, the games - to respect the terminology of the time and of the artists. A box held the few technical apparatuses of the scenes, which were just equipment needed to assemble the rope on which the dancers balanced and performed their jumps (Heulhard, 1878).

While the shows grew in quantity and quality, the Comedians of the King, in the face of the competition and the public’s preference for the attractions of the fairs, triggered attacks and persecutions of all kinds. In addition to the Comédie-Française, royalty also subsidized a troupe of Italian comedians, the Comédie-Italienne or Premier Théâtre-Italien, which had, until 1688, Domenico Biancolelli (1636-1688), aka Dominique, as capocomico, in the role of Harlequin²².

In 1697, however, the Italian company had its subsidy suspended and was expelled from Paris due to the staging of the show The False Puritan, or The False Hypocrite, which criticized Louis XIV’s wife, Madame de Maintenon²³. Once deported and without court pensions, some of the Italian comedians returned to their homeland, others dispersed through the provinces and others stayed in Paris and sought work at the fairs²⁴.

The Alard brothers and Alexandre Bertrand (1684-1725)²⁵, at the time the main entrepreneurs of the fair theaters, incorporated the Italian artists into their acrobat companies, thus fostering the encounter between professional comedic actors and acrobat artists (Guardenti, 1995).

With the expulsion of Italian comedians, the fair and its theaters became heirs of the Commedia dell’Arte and its public (Venard, 1985), increasing competition with the Comédie-Française. This, in turn, intensified the combat with the objective of definitively ending the staging at the fairs. The offensive of the official company of the king was intense, even prohibiting dialogues in the shows presented at the fairs. The first of the bans occurred in 1706, for the Saint-Germain fair, when the police lieutenant banned the company of Widow Maurice, as Jeanne Godefroy was known²⁶, for the representation of dialogue plays. Soon after, the sentences were suspended, but they returned in later years, with new nuances.

A new order, in 1707, led the company of Godefroy, at that time associated with Bertrand, to stage only monologue plays. In 1708, she and Charles Alard, so as to avoid the prohibitions imposed by the Comédie-Française, entered a commercial agreement with the director general of the Académie Royale de Musique, Pierre Guyenet (?-1712), and were able to present on stage, together with the pantomimes, ballet songs and dances. The Académie had exclusivity and patent rights granted by the king for shows with singing and dancing. Thus, Jeanne and Alard avoided the prohibitions that could come from Parliament. The other troupes that operated at the fairs remained obliged to present silent productions.

The encounter of street artists with Italian comedians, in the first two decades of the 18th century, led to the proliferation of companies and shows. Acrobats, rope dancers, puppeteers, animal trainers and other artists learned scenic representation techniques from the Italians and these, in turn, improved in acrobatics and other virtuosic skills. The shows started to comprise attractions of acrobats and comedies with actors and actresses. Therefore, we have here the origins of the modern circus show model, with varieties and theater, following the criteria of the montage of attractions.

The comic amusement of Alard and Maurice already indicated, in an incipient way, the essential elements of a show composed of attractions, with characters reciting in free verses: fictional representation and acrobatic performance were presented there. The arrival of the Italians at the fairs and the ban on dialogue enabled the exploration of other dramaturgical aspects. The Forces of Love and Magic, of 1678, presented dialogue recitations of the actors and the characters did not refer to those established by the Italians. The combination of acrobats and comedians, starting in 1697, developed scenic forms devoid of dialogue, and the characters of the Commedia dell’Arte started to predominate in the shows at the fairs. Paradoxically, the extinction of the Comédie-Italienne and the expulsion of its comedians intensified the assimilation of the characters, settings, scripts, ways of interpreting, etc. of the Italians, so much so that Harlequin became the “supreme anti-hero of a subversive culture” (Brown, 1989, p. 52). Playwrights, such as Alain-René Lesage (1668-1747), specifically engaged in the construction of shows that combined acrobatic games and comic scenes, with Harlequin as the main character. Saint-Germain and Saint-Laurent saw the construction of more comfortable and elegant show rooms (Drack, 1889). This only increased the ire of the official companies.

Denunciations and requests for bans increased, especially with regard to dialogue. Companies, directors and artists presented proposals for shows with specifics at all times, generating specific police and legal demands. The cases were analyzed and judged separately. Another institutional battleground of this dispute was the French parliament. Charles Alard and Jeanne Godefroy led this battle, which did not bring positive results to fair professionals²⁷.

Parallel to the disputes, which provided significant boosts to the investigation of theatrical techniques with no use of words and dialogue (discussed below), the encounter of acrobat artists and Italian comedians in the shows of the Paris fairs was crucial for the consolidation of a show mode based on the montage of attractions. At that time, the performance of the variety artists and the interpretation of characters with the respective representation of theatrical plots came together in a dynamic show.

The concrete bases of this encounter and of this proposition of show were guaranteed by the box office²⁸. The fairs extended their commercial practices to artistic exhibitions, with barter, purchase and sale of products, services, shows and artists.

Representations and performances

As the police and legal battles unfolded between the fair theaters and the Comédie-Française - spanning almost a century - the artists investigated spectacular responses to continue the profession. Among the various formal experiments developed in coping with censorship to dialogue, the following modes were experimented with: 1) monologues; 2) plays with posters (pièces à écriteaux); 3) silent plays; 4) grammelot pieces (pièces en jargon).

In the monologues, an actor or actress spoke and the others expressed themselves using gestures and bodily signs. Fair artists called this procedure “the art of talking alone” (Venard, 1985, p. 107). A particular form of monologue was also experimented with, or rather, a kind of dialogical monologue: one character entered the scene and spoke to the audience, then went out for the entrance of another, who recited their part, or responded to the text previously presented, subsequently leaving the stage. And so on! (Drack, 1889). This practice was denounced and condemned in 1708. The complaint called for the destruction of the fair theaters. The petition was accepted and the theaters that used this device were destroyed.

The second mode (pièces à écriteaux) presented diverse ways of showing to the audience posters with the names and lines of the characters, or with the verses of the songs in the scenes. One of the ways to make the text known to the audience was the following: the actors took a poster in the form of a continuous strip from their right pocket, containing the character’s name and the lines relevant to that scene. After that moment and once the need for the text was fulfilled, the poster was moved to the left pocket (Parfaict, 1743, v. 1). Regarding the songs, signs written in large fonts were presented to the audience, to be seen by all those present, in cloths wrapped in sticks, with the verses parodying known songs. In this case, to achieve the expected effect, someone from the company infiltrated the public. As soon as the verses appeared, the orchestra performed the beginning of the melody with the respective musical tone. Encouraged by the company representative in the audience, the audience immediately sang the song. This procedure gained notoriety especially because it raised children dressed as an angel at the front and at the top of the stage, holding the signs. The artists, on stage, executed gestures appropriate to the verses being sung (Parfaict, 1743, v. 1).

Figure 2
Reference to the work Harlequin Invisible in the Emperor of China’s Court, composed in 1713 by Jean-Claude Gillier. Represented on July 30, 1713, at the Saint-Laurent fair. Technique: Incision. Date: 1723 (?) National Library of France collection

In Figure 2 above, in addition to the children, Harlequin is seen flying, mounted on a cripple with devil’s horns. On stage, a Turk with a sword in his hand, trying to hit Harlequin, while two women watch with admiration and fear. The image provides information about the spatial occupation, as well as the use of different techniques so that the imaginary actions become credible. It contains information about the agility and movement of the scene, compensating for the absence of words.

The silent plays, as the name says, were conducted based exclusively on bodily expressiveness. In them, music had a guaranteed presence. As an interpretation resource, they needed knowledge and mastery of mimicry. With this, the silent shows grew in quality and quantity, to the point of any and all comedic theatrical scene, predominantly bodily (but not necessarily), being called pantomime. This denomination extended to future centuries, reaching the circus milieu, which even after the fall of the ban on dialogues in 1864 continued to use the name pantomime for circus farce scenes. In short, the prohibition of dialogue and speech made it necessary to invest in interpretation without words and, from then on, pantomime gained prominence and expressiveness. They had two codes, which complemented each other and at the same time confronted each other: the aristocratic, with statuary and poses, and the fair code, or the Italian code, with lively movements and intense rhythms.

Another mode cultivated in the fair shows consisted in grammelot pieces, originally called pièce en jargon. In them, the spoken language was altered, so as not to stick directly to the meaning of the words, but rather to the general meaning that was given by the intonation of incongruous sounds and by gestures. These words, incomprehensible in their literal sense, were put in the mouth of foreign or country characters. In this aspect, the Italianizing trend that increased the comic scene of the fairs was explored, with the adoption of characters from the Commedia dell’Arte and their corresponding dialects, now worked in a way so as not to stick to direct sound comprehension and to maintain understanding through the body, gestural intention, and deformed sounds. Apparently without coherence, through the irony and parody of the rhythm of the Alexandrian verses, constant in the official theater, the invented and incomprehensible words gained meaning, given the general context of the scene, intonation and body play.

These modes, explored in order to circumvent the ban on dialogues, were introduced in mixed shows, with the presence of actors, dolls, acrobats and traveling artists in general. With this plurality of resources, a specific dramaturgy developed, directed specifically to the spectacular dynamism of the fairs. Among its main authors, in addition to the aforementioned Lesage, Louis Fuzelier (1672-1752), Jacques-Philippe d’Orneval (?-1766) and Alexis Piron (1689-1773) should be mentioned. Lesage, known as the Molière of the fairs, was the first playwright of the Fair Theater to live exclusively on his plays.

Music and singing, when absent on stage, given the prohibitions of the authorities, were present in the audience. Dance, especially rope dance, was almost a constant feature. As the expedients that banned dialogue progressed, the other technical resources expanded. This progressive process resulted in the creation of a genre that was specific to fairs, the comic opera, whose shows were composed of songs, dances, music, theatrical scenes and pieces of varieties.

The originality and multiplicity of artistic elements that constituted the shows at the fairs, facing censorship and experimenting with new procedures, predominantly bodily, led to the consolidation of specific genres and enabled the adoption of the capitalized term, Fair Theatre, to designate a differentiated chapter in the history of the performing arts (Venard, 1985).

Until the middle of the 17th century, fair artists worked in theaters for a maximum of four months a year. Therefore, they were forced to have other professions. The men were singers, dancers, painters or carpenters; women were seamstresses or laundresses. With the growth of the fairs and their theaters - especially from 1640 onwards, with the requirement that the shows were to be presented in closed spaces and the consequent organization of troupes - there was an increasing movement of professionalization. After the seasons of the fairs in Paris ended, troupes and artists traveled through the provinces of France, without settling anywhere.

Artists and horses... lots of horses!

Briefly presented here, the confrontation of the fair artists with the official French theater in the 17th and 18th centuries led, on the one hand, to the formal structures of the fair shows (the montage of attractions) and, on the other, to the commercial bases of production and circulation of shows. Such conditions provided support to the modern circus. The circus show of the late 18th century was based on agility and body movement, visually exploring all the dimensions of the scenic space, alternating the fear of risky jumps on the horse with the relaxation of comical performances with animals and clowns, or even parodic executions of the pieces presented in the arena in a serious tone. This show model was rhythmically based on music, punctuated by tensions and strains, softness and rigidity, gravity, agility and lightness.

The bodily dexterity model, mixed with comedic scenic moments, was adopted by Philip Astley (1741-1814). To the animals’ syncopated trot, he added exercises on the horses backs. Horse riding became acrobatic. He also developed specific numbers of turns, when the animals on the track, under the guidance of the trainer, executed choreographies, led by music. By bringing horses to the arena, introducing them into the show format already tested and approved at the fairs, with varieties, trained animals and comical scenes, on the eve of the French Revolution, he provoked the opening of the symbolic values of the aristocracy to the insurgent public. His show was widely welcomed by the French bourgeoisie (Bolognesi, 2003; Silva, 2018) ²⁹ .

A document from the National Library of France collection, Les Anciens Cirques: A Soir chez Astley (25 Avril 1786), from 1887, describes the show presented by Astley, in his amphitheater in Paris. The show featured, not necessarily in this order, twelve horses dancing a minuet, led by Philip Astley; ribbon jumping on a horse, performed by Miss Price; free presentation of the horse Dick Turpin, presented by Astley son; acrobatic horse riding, performed by Mr. Price; Astley son horses dancing the Devonshire minuet. There was also a 39-month-old child playing the harpsichord on stage. In the comic tone, there was a number with the monkey General Jocko, who was also a rope dancer; another, with trained dogs, led by Mr. Saunders; and, finally, the pantomime The English Laundresses, or The Triumph of Harlequin, with the participation of all artists (Bolognesi, 2019). The inclusion of the name Harlequin in the title probably had the intention of attracting the public accustomed to the character at the fairs.

The summary description of the numbers enables us to determine the confluence of attractions of acrobat skills, theatrical scenes and numbers with horses, mounted or not. In the 1786 show, horse numbers predominated. The short comic scenes were in contrast to those that explored the unusual and the risk. The performance virtuosity was side by side with the grotesque comedy.

At the time, there was still a ban on dialogue. The 1786 script makes no mention of the presence of a track master announcing the attractions, as would happen in the future circus show, from the second half of the 19th century. The mediation between the attractions was marked by the performance of the orchestra.

Comical acrobatic acts had the presence of animals, in this case, monkeys and dogs, and the performance of the animals’ conductor, the trainer, also took place without the presence of commands and orders. The same principle applied to horse numbers. Once again, musical insertion replaced the linguistic sign. Astley’s horses were trained based on musical scripts, hence the close link with dance and choreography. The show ended with a pantomime, a comical scene performed exclusively with bodily resources, a practice widely experimented with in Fair Theatre.

In short, the fair shows consolidated the structural bases that were absorbed by modern circus, both in poetic construction and in administrative and managerial practices. The show was based on the montage of attractions, ensuring the presence of numbers that, at fairs, were the responsibility of the acrobats and silent theatrical scenes. Horse riding numbers fit the model tried at fairs. The managerial practice was implemented in the organization of a troupe, led by Philip Astley, artist, entrepreneur and director, who hired two families: Price and Saunders. The approach of artists and families of artists to form a troupe, mediated by a director and businessman, had been known since 1640. The mode of organization, production and circulation of the modern circus show also used this practice. The great novelty of the shows, in the beginnings of the modern circus, was the inclusion of numbers with horses. The practice of horse riding and its appreciation was exclusive, until the middle of the 18th century, to the aristocracy and the military sectors. Astley promoted the opening of the horse riding show to the emerging bourgeois public. To that end, he took advantage of the well-known show structure consolidated at the Paris fairs.

Referências

• BOLOGNESI, Mario Fernando. Palhaços. São Paulo: Edunesp, 2003.
• BOLOGNESI, Mario Fernando. O Espetáculo de Philip Astley (1786). Sala Preta, São Paulo, PPGAC - Universidade de São Paulo, v. 19, n. 1, p. 4-17, 2019.
• BROWN, Frederick. Theater and Revolution. The Culture of the Franch Stage. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.
• CAMARGO, Robson Corrêa de. A Panatomima e o Teatro de Feira na Formação do Espetáculo Teatral: o Texto Espetacular e o Palimpsesto. Fênix, Revista de História e Estudos Culturais, Uberlândia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, v. 3, n. 4, p. 1-32, 2006.
• CAMPARDON, Émile. Les Spetacles de la Foire. Paris: Berger-Levrault et Cie Ed., 1877. 2v.
• CLARKE, Jan. The Expulsion of the Italians from the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1697. Seventeenth Century French Studies, Cambridge UK, Society for Early Modern French Studies, v. 14, n. 1, p. 97-117, 1992.
• DRACK, Maurice. Le Théâtre de la Foire, la Comédie Italienne et l’Opéra Comique. Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1889.
• GUARDENTI, Renzo. Le Fiere del Teatro. Percorsi del teatro forain del primo Settecento. Roma: Bulzoni, 1995.
• HEULHARD, Arthur. La Foire Saint-Laurent, son Histoire et ses Spectacles. Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1878.
• LES ANCIENS CIRQUES: Um Soir chez Astley (25 Avril 1786). London: John Adamson, 1887.
• OLIVEIRA, Vanessa Teixeira de. Eisenstein Ultrateatral: Movimento Expressivo e Montagem de Atrações na Teoria do Espetáculo de Serguei Eisenstein. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2008.
• PARFAICT, François et Claude. Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des spectacles de la foire par un acteur forain. Paris: Briasson, 1743. 2 v.
• SILVA, Reginaldo Carvalho da. Dionísio Pelos Trilhos do Trem: Circo e Teatro no Sertão do Brasil. Curitiba: CRV, 2018.
• SPAZIANI, Marcello. Gli Italiani alla ‘Foire’. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1982.
• VENARD, Michele. La Foire Entre en Scène. Paris: Lib. Théâtrale, 1985.
• XAVIER, Ismail (Org.). A Experiência do Cinema. Rio de Janeiro: Graal; Embrafilme, 1983.

• 1
  There are divergent opinions regarding the start dates of the Saint-Laurent fair. According to Heulhard (1878), it would have started in 1110, opening on November 3 and lasting eight days. Campardon points out that “a document that dates back to December 1344 contains the first very authentic mention of the Saint-Laurent fair” (1877, p. 6-7, v. 1). The entry of artists in the fairs occurred significantly in the 17th and 18th centuries.
• 2
  The Fair Theatre, the circus, the Music Hall, the Grand Guignol and other forms of popular entertainment served as the basis for filmmaker Serguei Eiseinstein, in 1923, conceiving and theorizing about the montage of attractions. The Brazilian translation can be consulted in Xavier (1983); the filmmaker’s relations with the theater are the main reason for the work of Oliveira (2008).
• 3
  Where possible, information on dates of birth and death will be informed in parentheses. References taken from works from the 18th and 19th centuries, however, do not necessarily contain these indicators. Therefore, some personalities mentioned will not be followed by the corresponding dates.
• 4
  The company of actors and acrobats of the king of Hôtel de Bourgogne and the company of Hôtel de Guénégaud, formed, in 1680, at the initiative of Louis XIV, the Comédie-Française.
• 5
  The show’s authorship was attributed, according to Spaziani (1982), to Charles Alard; in addition to Alard, Maurice Drack indicates Maurice Vondrebeck as author and adds that rope dancers and acrobats had a prominent place in this “imbróglio féerique” (1889, p. 5).
• 6
  In pointing out the importance of Merlin’s monologues, Spaziani (1982, p. 10) states that this character “should be played by Charles Alard.” According to Campardon, Maurice also “was an actor and had a role in the play entitled: The Forces of Love and Magic...” (1877, p. 114, v. 2).
• 7
  Biancolelli and the company's actors remodeled the Italian Commedia dell'Arte, adapting it to the French milieu. After Dominique's death, Evaristo Gherardi (1663-1700), in 1689, took on the role of Harlequin.
• 8
  The Comédie-Française is also considered responsible for the expulsion of the Italians (Clarke, 1992). According to Brown (1989), the Comédie was not only defending their theater, but an aesthetic and political order, generator of a certain taste.
• 9
  In 1716, under the reign of Louis XV, the Comédie-Italienne officially returned to Paris, this time headed by Luigi Riccoboni (1676-1753). It survived until 1762, when it definitively joined the Comic Opera company, a theater created by Luiz XIV, in 1714.
• 10
  Before dedicating himself to theater, Alexandre Bertrand was a gilding master, painter and wood sculptor. His nativity scenes in Parisian churches enjoyed a good reputation. He entered the fairs with his ability to build dolls. He and his brother Jean (1684–1702) produced puppet shows. “Until 1697, he was reduced to his puppets, to which he added some rope dancers; at that time, Italian actors had been expelled from France and he rented the show room [from the Italians] and, without any subsidy, started to present performances. An order from the king expelled him and sent him back to the fairs, where he resumed his theatrical exploration” (Campardon, 1877, p. 127, v. 1). The contact with the Italians induced Alexandre to create shows mixing actors and large puppets.
• 11
  Jeanne Godefroy (1658-1710) married Maurice von der Beck in 1672. She continued the business and artistic activities of Maurice's company after his death in 1694, and played an important role in the consolidation of comic opera, genuine creation of the fairs.
• 12
  Campardon’s 1877 work features artists, companies and scenic buildings in two volumes and in alphabetical order. With regard to artists and companies, the work reproduces excerpts from the record of police, legal and legislative events, involving the dispute between the official theater and the fair artists, in addition to other complaints that deal with behavioral and moral aspects. For example, the Alard brothers participate in the work with ten pages of records (1877, I).
• 13
  According to Robson Corrêa de Camargo (2006, p. 13-14), “Success was the first objective of their shows that aimed not only to touch the audience, but to get them to give coins in exchange for that emotion. They did not conduct a repertoire theater nor alternating plays, as did the casts established under the royal aegis. They interpreted the same play until they satisfied the audience or saw the seats empty; thus, few plays were performed more than seven times”.
• 14
  In addition to Astley, several other entrepreneurs invested in the presentation of trained animals, including horses, such as Franconi, Français Defraine, Hyam and Balp.
• This original text, translated by Roberto Francisco (Tikinet Edição Ltda), is also published in Portuguese in this issue of the journal.
• Editor-in-charge: Gilberto Icle

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  21 Aug 2020
• Date of issue
  2020

History

• Received
  28 May 2019
• Accepted
  18 Nov 2019