 |
 |
Jacques Copeau (1879-1949) founded the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier in 1913. In this small theatre, he experimented with his ideas about a new theatre. His ideas encompassed a new method of acting and a new type of theatre space. He may have not been the first to express these ideas, but he was the first to actually carry them out, to make an actual start with the realization of the ideals of the theatre avant-garde of the early twentieth century. The Vieux Colombier would influence the modern theatre considerably.
The Vieux Colombier has been remodelled a few times, and a larger number of companies occupied its stage after Copeau left it. The small theatre always attracted experimental minds. In the 1970s, it was almost demolished but ultimately saved. In 1993 it was thoroughly renovated and reopened to the public.
Founders and architects
Copeau didn’t build the Vieux Colombier on his own but it was his vision, and he was the main inspiring force behind the project. He had loved the world of the theatre ever since he was a child. When he got the chance, he gave up his life as a factory manager and founded the small theatre that was to be a landmark in twentieth-century scenography.
|
However, he had a lot of help from friends who helped him find the right location, to raise the necessary funds and even helped to design a new theatrical space. Francis Jourdain was the first to rebuild the little theatre (formerly known as Athenée Saint-Germain), in 1913. Back then, very little financial means were available for the operation, so Jourdain had to restrict himself to the stripping bare of the rococo auditorium and stage.
|
|
|
|
Jouvet, in 1919, was the architect who transformed the ideas of Copeau
into an architectural design and also supervised the construction works.
Towards a new theatre
Copeau wanted to renew the theatre. His vision encompassed the theatrical situation as a whole. He wanted to get away from the contemporary boulevard-theatres, so he moved to a location on the Paris left bank; together with Jouvet, he designed a new kind of theatrical space, and he developed a new acting method. Of course, he did not live in a vacuum; directors and scenographers all over Europe ventured to renovate the theatre and the arts. The European avant-garde roared, and Copeau was one of them.
|
|
|
|
The later history of the building
The first to rent the theatre after Copeau left was not a theatre manager, but a cinematographer. In 1924, Jean Tedesco installed a little avant-garde cinema in the Vieux Colombier. Starting with the cinema, Copeau’s theatre would gain a reputation as a refuge for the Paris avant-garde, a typical left-bank “caverne petite’, as Noëlle Guibert called it.
Tedesco was a pioneer and his cinema was one of the first art/movie houses in Paris. Copeau had met Tedesco and he supported the project.
Like Copeau, Tedesco felt he had to defend the sake of pure art against the degeneration caused by commercial purposes. Copeau didn’t leave the stage completely: he continued giving lectures in the Vieux Colombier.
In 1927 the interior of the theatre was rearranged to make room for projection halls. The atelier in the garden was converted into a film studio. Tedesco attracted a select audience. This audience was primarily interested in the experimental art cinema and tried to escape the boulevard-cinema’s, very similar to the theatre goers that had visited Copeau’s theatre. This opened the gateway for other film pioneers on the left bank. Soon after Tedesco, Talier founded a new cinema near the boulevard Saint-Michel, the Studio des Ursulines. Others followed, for example the Studio Parnasse, Studio Bertrand and the Studio des Agriculteurs.
|
|