Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Théâtre Antoine, located at 14 boulevard de Strasbourg in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, was founded in 1866 as the Théâtre des Menus-Plaisirs. Inspired by the King's Menus-Plaisirs, a royal service charged with parties and court shows, it replaces an old café-concert named The 19th Century. The room, originally called the Théâtre des Arts then Opéra-Buffe, was rebuilt in 1881 and became the Comédie-Parisienne. She returned to her original name, Menus-Plaisirs, in 1882 before welcoming, from 1888, the troupe of the Théâtre-Libre by André Antoine, a major figure in theatrical naturalism.

In 1897 André Antoine renamed the theatre Antoine after a brief visit to the Odéon. The place became a high place of stage innovation, with the installation of the first Parisian rotating scene in 1934 under the direction of Marcel Paston. The actress Simone Berriau took over in 1943 and set up the entire dramatic work of Jean-Paul Sartre. After his death in 1984, his daughter Héléna Bossis, then his son-in-law Daniel Darès, continued this tradition until 2011, when Laurent Ruquier and Jean-Marc Dumontet bought the theatre.

Antoine Theatre has been listed as a Historic Monument since November 20, 1989. Its interior decoration, made by Clemançon in 1901, and its architecture signed by Marcel Delignière, make it a valuable testimony to Parisian theatrical history. The hall also marked history by its collaborations with contemporary authors, such as Yasmina Reza (The God of Carnage, 2008), and daring directors, like Bertrand Blier (Sorry for carpeting, 2010). Today, although managed by a private company, its walls remain the property of the Darès-Bossis family.

The building also embodies the evolution of Parisian private theatre. In 2010, he joined the network of Associate Theatres in Paris, an initiative bringing together fifty theatres to promote a historical model of theatre management. Its history thus reflects the artistic, architectural and economic changes of the show living in France, from naturalism to contemporary avant-garde.

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