Théâtre Doyen

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Old street sign of Rue Transnonaine
The house at number 12 Rue Transnonaine in 1901

The Théâtre Doyen , which was first on Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth in the 3rd arrondissement and later on Rue Transnonaine, which is now part of Rue Beaubourg in the 4th arrondissement , was a Parisian theater and drama school.

In 1789, the theater was built on Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth and named after the tenant, Doyen. The theater was organized as an association in which amateur actors performed and mainly dramas were given. In 1791, an entrepreneur rented the theater, which turned the program around, because only pieces that were basically decent and moral were put on the program. Although the orchestra was extremely good, the pieces were so bad that the house had to close again just two months later. Doyen stepped in again as a tenant and even enlarged and embellished it and started playing again with amateur actors. Doyen took on the roles of director, prop master and played as an actor himself. He then went on to give acting classes, because it turned out that he was a good actor himself and wanted to pass on his skills. His pupils then played next to the amateur ensemble on the stage and there were now comedies, tragedies and operas. The later famous actors such as Étienne Arnal and Frédérick Lemaître , or Hugues Bouffé celebrated their debut here. Gradually the amateur ensemble was replaced by professional actors such as François-Joseph Talma and also from their own school.

In 1815 the owner sold the theater because a new synagogue was to be built on this site. Although construction of the synagogue on Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth was not planned for years, Doyen looked for a new domicile that same year, which he found on the nearby Rue Transnonaine 12. The new venue was built in 1793 on the site of a former Carmelite monastery. The entrance to the theater was not on the ground floor, as is usually the case, but you can reach the parquet on the third floor and the balcony on the fourth floor. The artists' entrance could be reached from Rue Beaubourg 62 through an inner courtyard.

In 1824, on a ministerial decree, all bourgeois theaters and drama associations that made profits were enacted. However, Doyen was persistent and made many requests to the administration, but this was unsuccessful. Since the theater was in the meantime, Doyen was arrested in 1828 for the unauthorized theater operation and he was tried. Only because of his old age was no prison sentence imposed, but the theater was finally closed.

Doyen died two years later, over eighty. As they stayed in the former theater, part of his family was killed in the massacre on Rue Transnonain .

literature

  • William Duckett : Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture inventaire raisonné des notions générale les plus indispensable à tous , 1854, Volume Dov-Esp, p. 3, digitized
  • Le Radical : La Vie Municipale - Les démolitions de la rue Beaubourg et l`affaire de la rue Transnonain , edition of August 12, 1912, p. 2, digitized

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Le Figaro : Le Théâtre d`Application , edition of March 14, 1887, p. 1 digitized version , accessed on May 17, 2019
  2. ↑ Officiel-artiste: journal hebdomadaire : Nécrologie artistique , edition of November 8, 1888, p. 7 digitized version , accessed on May 17, 2019
  3. ↑ Hugues Bouffé : Mes souvenirs, 1800–1880 , 1880, p. 25, digitized , accessed on May 17, 2019