Jacques Copeau

Jacques Copeau (born February 4, 1879 in Paris , † October 20, 1949 in Beaune ) was a French theater director, actor and playwright.

biography

Copeau began writing comedies in the 1890s, of which Brouillard du matin was performed at the Nouveau Théâtre in 1897 and reviewed by Francisque Sarcey at Le Temps . He wrote as a theater critic for L 'Ermitage (1904-06), Théâtre (1905-14) and La Grande Revue (1907-10) and worked from 1905 to 1910 as an art dealer in the Georges Petit gallery .

In 1908 he founded the Nouvelle Revue Française with André Gide , Jean Schlumberger , Henri Ghéon , André Ruyters and Marcel Drouin , which continues to the present day. In 1913 he founded a small theater, the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier , where he implemented his ideas of regaining the theatrical by turning away from the contemporary naturalistic concept. He won actors such as Charles Dullin , Louis Jouvet (who also worked as a lighting technician and stage manager), Blanche Albane and Suzanne Bing for the house .

After the theater company traveled to America in 1917-19, Copeau reopened his theater in Paris in 1920. He also opened a theater school under the direction of Jules Romains , where young actors such as Michel Saint-Denis , Léon Chancerel , Jean Dasté , Marie-Hélène Dasté , Etienne Decroux and the duo Gilles et Julien studied. After the failure of his play La Maison natale , which met with incomprehension even among friends, he withdrew from Paris and closed the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in 1924 .

In the following years, Copeau worked as a theater critic for the Nouvelles littéraires . He directed open-air performances of Santa Uliva (1933), Savonarole (1935) and Comme il vous plaira (1938) and directed Le Misanthrope, Bajazet , Asmodée by François Mauriac and Le Testament du Père Leleu by Roger Martin du Gard at the Comédie from 1936–37 -Française and in 1940 as its provisional director Jean-Louis Barraults Le Cid .

In 1941 he resigned from the management of the Comédie-Française, published the work Le Théâtre populaire and completed the drama Le Petit Pauvre about the life of Francis of Assisi . Despite the events of the war and his own illness, he staged the play Miracle du pain doré at the Hospice de Beaune in 1943 with the support of André Barsacq . Copeau's theatrical work had a significant influence on theater makers such as Étienne Decroux, Charles Dullin , Jean Louis Barrault , Jacques Lecoq , Marcel Marceau and Antonin Artaud .

"Dans l'histoire du théâtre français, il ya deux périodes: avant et après Copeau." (There are two periods in the history of French theater: before and after Copeau.) ( Albert Camus )

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personal data
SURNAME	Copeau, Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French playwright, actor and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH	February 4, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paris
DATE OF DEATH	October 20, 1949
Place of death	Beaune