Curtain Call, or From the Master of Revels to the Lieutenant Général de Police: Theatre Censorship in London and Paris from 1660 to 1737 Público
Lambert, Marissa Paige (2012)
Abstract
Curtain Call, or From the Master of Revels to the Lieutenant
Général de Police:
Theatre Censorship in London and Paris from 1660 to 1737
By Marissa P. Lambert
The period from 1660 to 1737 saw significant changes in the way
the legitimate theatres
of London and Paris were censored by the English and French
governments. The theatres had
been officially or unofficially censored from centuries before, but
it is between the foundings of
the royal theatres in London (1660) and Paris (1680) and the 1730s
that the way in which the
government attempted to censor changed.
I show that administrative changes in the official censorship and
theatrical regulation
account for the growing differences in the relative strength of
theatrical censorship between
London and Paris. While the official place of the English censor
declined, causing a weakness in
English censorship, the official place of the French censor
remained constant, avoiding weakness
in French censorship. In fact, when the French government became
occupied with matters of
succession in 1715, the French censor was able to increase his
efficacy.
I have chosen 1660-1737 based on important dates in England that
are roughly matched
in France. The beginning date was the Restoration of Charles II to
the English throne after the
Cromwell Protectorate. One year later marked the beginning of Louis
XIV's personal rule upon
the death of Cardinal-Minister Mazarin. The end date corresponds to
the imposition of the
English Licensing Act of 1737, a last attempt to rein in unruly
London theatres-a state of
theatrical disarray that one can clearly contrast with Paris.
The structural positions of the Master of Revels in London and
the lieutenant général de
police (and in 1706, the police censor) in Paris were
different from most other administrative
jobs in the eighteenth century. The positions were not terribly
important to the everyday
functioning of government, but their products were very important
politically and thus they were
subject to official oversight by important administrators who could
apply a great deal of power.
Table of Contents
Chapter............................................................................Page
PROLOGUE:
INTRODUCTION....................................................1
Act I: SETTING THE
STAGE....................................................3
Act II: PRE-ROYAL THEATRE
BACKSTORY.................................13
Act III: ENTER THE CENSOR, STAGE
RIGHT...............................18
Act IV: ENTREZ LE CENSEUR, CÔTÉ
COUR.................................31
Act V: RISING
TENSION.........................................................41
Act VI:
CLIMAX....................................................................54
Act VII: DENOUEMENT...........................................................67
BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................69
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