Constructing and cultivating a national theatrical system, 1806–24

Much has been written about the beginnings and decline of the French system for theatrical infrastructure first devised by Napoleon to oversee performance culture across the nation and lasting for almost sixty-years (1806-1864). In this article, though, I argue that new perspectives on the relationship between state governance and French theatre can be illuminated by exploring previously neglected reforms and debates between ministers about the function of provincial theatre during the first quarter of the century. I reconstruct the archival trail of ministerial plans, draft proposals, and marginal scribbles concerning provincial theatre to trace the process whereby theatrical issues were discussed, acted upon or abandoned between 1806 to 1824. These documents, I suggest, reveal the steady development of ministerial conceptions of the social and political role of the provincial French stage, charting a shift from the government’s focus on the theatrical system’s political and moral issues to the new importance placed on fostering social and artistic priorities. I highlight that such a shift, in turn, allowed a state-led conception of the national value of the work of regional companies in terms that had been previously reserved for the capital’s institutions.