Popular Theatre and Political Utopia in France, 1870—1940

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Jessica Wardhaugh

   Pages 1-22

3. Citizens of Utopia: Popular Theatre and the Republican State

   • Jessica Wardhaugh

   Pages 23-70

4. Folk Art, Faith, and Nationalism: Popular Theatre in the Provinces

   • Jessica Wardhaugh

   Pages 71-152

5. Beyond the Peuple Fidèle: Catholic Theatre and the Masses

   • Jessica Wardhaugh

   Pages 153-192

6. The Beauty of Revolt: Anarchist Theatre in the Belle Époque

   • Jessica Wardhaugh

   Pages 193-226

7. The Art of Revolution: From Romain Rolland to Communist Agit-Prop

   • Jessica Wardhaugh

   Pages 227-267

8. The Art of Counter-Revolution: From Royalist Satire to Fascist Mass Spectacle

   • Jessica Wardhaugh

   Pages 269-311

9. Conclusion

   • Jessica Wardhaugh

   Pages 313-320

10. Back Matter

    Pages 321-357

    PDF

This book is the first study of popular theatre in France from left to right, exploring how theatre shapes political acts, ideals, and communities in the modern world. As the French found innovative ways of imagining culture and politics in the age of the masses, popular theatre became central to the republican project of using art to create citizens, using secular spaces for the experience of civic communion. But while state projects often faltered in finding playwrights, locations, and audiences, popular theatre flourished on the political and geographical peripheries. Drawing on extensive archival research, this book illuminates lost worlds of political conviviality, from anarchist communes and clandestine agit-prop drama to royalist street politics and right-wing mass spectacle. It reveals new connections between French initiatives and their European counterparts, and demonstrates the enduring strength of radical communities in shaping political ideals and engagement.

• History of French popular theatre
• Politics, theatre, and utopia
• State education
• Popular music
• Théâtre National Populaire
• Theatre in the provinces
• Breton plays
• Pierre Corneille
• Henri Ghéon
• Léon Chancerel
• Catholic popular theatre
• Anarchist theatre
• The Belle Époque
• Théâtre d’Art Social
• Théâtre Civique
• Romain Rolland
• Commemoration of the First World War
• Théâtre de la Révolution

“Popular Theatre and Political Utopia gives us both telling vignettes and a broad overview of theatre that sought collective transcendence during the Third Republic. By doing so, it sheds light on a vast realm of performances that is rarely mapped out in works this comprehensive or this richly researched.” (Cary Hollinshead-Strick, H-France Review, Vol. 18 (230), December, 2018)

• University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

  Jessica Wardhaugh

Jessica Wardhaugh is Associate Professor at the University of Warwick, UK, where she researches and teaches on French politics and culture. Her first monograph with Palgrave (2009) was a study of street politics in 1930s France. She has also edited books on Paris and the Right, and politics and the individual.

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