No colonnade, no exterior decoration announces it as a place of
public amusement, and any one might pass it at noon-day without
suspecting the circumstance, but for the prices of admission being
painted in large characters over the apertures in the wall, where the
public deposit their money.
This house, which is of a circular form, is divided, into four tiers
of boxes. The ornaments in front of them, not being in glaring
colours, give, by their pale tint, a striking brilliancy to the dress
of the women.
PICARD, the manager of this theatre, is the MOLIÈRE of his company;
that is, he is at once author and actor, and, in both lines,
indefatigable. Undoubtedly, the most striking, and, some say, the
only resemblance he bears to the mirror of French comedy, is to be
compelled to bring on the stage pieces in so unfinished a state as to
be little more than sketches, or, in other words, he is forced to
write in order to subsist his company. Thus then, the stock-pieces of
this theatre are all of them of his own composition. The greater part
are _imbroglios_ bordering on farce. The _vis comica_ to be found in
them is not easily understood by foreigners, since it chiefly
consists in allusions to local circumstances and sayings of the day.
However, they sometimes produce laughter in a surprising degree, but
more frequently make those laugh who never blush to laugh at any
thing.
The most lively of his pieces are _Le Collatéral_ and _la Petite
Ville_. In the course of last month, he produced one under the name
of _La Grande Ville, ou les Provinciaux à Paris_, which occasioned a
violent uproar. The characters of this pseudo-comedy are swindlers or
fools; and the spectators insisted that the portraits were either too
exact a copy of the originals, or not at all like them. By means of
much insolence, by means of the guard which was incautiously
introduced into the pit, and which put to flight the majority of the
audience, and, lastly, by means of several alterations, PICARD
contrived to get his piece endured. But this triumph may probably be
the signal of his ruin,[1] as the favour of the Parisian public, once
lost, is never to be regained.
This histrionic author and manager has written some pieces of a
serious cast. The principal are, _Médiocre et Rampant_, and _L'Entrée
dans le Monde_. As in _La Grande Ville_, the characters in these are
also cheats or fools. Consequently, it was not difficult to conduct
the plot, it would have been much more so to render it interesting.
These two comedies are written in verse which might almost pass for
prose.
The _Théâtre Louvois_ is open to all young authors who have the
ambition to write for the stage, before they have well stored their
mind with the requisites. Novelties here succeed each other with
astonishing rapidity. Hence, whatever success PICARD may have met
with as an author, he has not been without competitors for his
laurels. Out of no less than one hundred and sixty-seven pieces
presented for rehearsal and read at this house, one hundred and
sixty-five are said to have been refused. Of the two accepted, the
one, though written forty years ago, was brought out as a new piece,
and damned. However, the ill success of a piece represented here is
not remarked; the fall not being great.
The friends of this theatre call it _La petite Maison de Thalie_.
They take the part for the whole. It is, in fact, no more than her
anti-chamber. As for the drawing-room of the goddess, it is no longer
to be found any where in Paris.
The performers who compose PICARD'S company do no injustice to his
pieces. It is affirmed that this company has what is called, on the
French stage, _de l'ensemble_. With few exceptions, there is an
_ensemble_, as it is very indifferent. For such an interpretation to
be correct, it would be necessary for all the comedians of the
_Théâtre Louvois_ to have great talents, and none can be quoted.
PICARD, though not unfrequently applauded, is but a sorry actor. His
cast of parts is that of valets and comic characters.
DEVIGNY performs the parts of noble fathers and foolish ones, here
termed _dindons_, and grooms, called by the French _jockeis_. The
remark, that he who plays every thing plays nothing, has not been
unaptly applied to him. He has a defect of pronunciation which shocks
even the ear of a foreigner.
DORSAN is naturally cold and stiff, and when he endeavours to repair
the former of these defects, the weakness of his powers betrays him.
If he speaks correctly, it is without _finesse_, and he never adds by
expression to the thought of the author.
CLOZEL is a very handsome young man. He performs the characters of
_petits-maîtres_ and those of valets, which he confounds incessantly.
The other actors of the _Théâtre Louvois_ exempt me from naming them.
As for the actresses at this theatre, those only worthy to be
mentioned are, Mademoiselle ADELINE, who has a rather pretty face,
and plays not ill innocent parts; Mademoiselle BEFFROI, who is
handsome, especially in male attire; and Mademoiselle MOLIÈRE, who is
a very good _soubrette_. Mademoiselle LESCOT, tired of obtaining
applause at the _Théâtre du Vaudeville_, wished to do the same on a
larger theatre. Here, she has not even the consolation of saying
"_Tel brille au second rang, qui s'éclipse au premier._"
Madame MOLÉ, who is enormous in bulk, is a coarse caricature, whether
she performs the parts of noble mothers, or what the French call
_caractères_, that is, singular characters.
* * * * *
The _ci-devant Comédie Italienne_ in Paris partly owed its prosperity
to the _Vaudeville_, which might be considered as the parent of the
_Opéra-Comique_. They were united, when the _drame_ being introduced
with songs, had like to have annihilated them both. The _Vaudeville_
was sacrificed and banished. Several years elapsed before it
reappeared. This offspring of French gaiety was thought to be lost
for ever; but a few authors had prepared for it an asylum under the
name of