Andre Antoine French theater and film director, theater theorist Date of Birth: 31.01.1858 Country: France

Biography of Andre Antoine

French theater and film director, and theater theorist Andre Antoine (1858-1943) was the founder of the "Free Theater" in Paris. The theater opened on March 30, 1887, in the passage Elize de Boz Ar on Montmartre with a performance consisting of four one-act plays: "Jacques Damour" by Zola, "Mademoiselle Pomme" by Duranty and Alexis, "The Subprefect" by Bilia, and "The Cockade" by Vidal. The theater later moved to the Rue Geta in the Montparnasse district, and then to the Menus-Plaisirs theater on Strasbourg Boulevard.

At the end of the 19th century, France saw the emergence of the art of directing, which was previously unknown in French theater. Andre Antoine was the first to embark on this path of directorial exploration. He initiated a grand reform in French theater: he opposed commercial theater, advocated for the renewal of academic traditions in French theater, staged contemporary plays, and introduced new artistic requirements for the staging of performances. He also searched for new expressive means in both acting and stage design. Antoine had been fascinated by theater from a young age, and in order to attend performances, he worked as a claqueur at the Comedie Francaise, and later as an extra, which allowed him to become acquainted with the art of the leading actors of Paris and the academic stage, such as Sarah Bernhardt, Mounet-Sully, and Coquelin the Elder. Antoine managed to enroll in the private theater school "Gymnas de la Parole," where he made his debut as an actor. He then attempted to enter the declamation class of the Paris Conservatory, but was unsuccessful. He worked as a clerk at the Gas Company in Paris, but left Paris a year later and went to serve in military units in southern Tunisia.

In 1885, upon his return, he became involved with the so-called amateur "Gallic Circle," which held monthly performances for family and friends. This theater circle had existed since 1874, and by the time Antoine joined, it was led by a certain "Papa Kraus," a passionate admirer of actors from the Comedie Francaise and an equally passionate fan of the plays of E. Scribe, V. Sardou, and A. Dumas the Younger. Antoine, who performed in the "Gallic Circle" as an actor, quickly stood out among the other performers with the simplicity and truthfulness of his acting. Soon, he became the leader of the part of the circle that was ready for new explorations. The other part, supporters of academic traditions, rallied around "Papa Kraus." At the same time, Antoine began to establish connections with writers who were grouped around Emile Zola (A. Dode, A. Bec, E. Goncourt). Antoine was also supported by members of the social-political association "La Butte." One member of this association founded the youth magazine "L'Independant" (1884), whose contributors included prominent representatives of contemporary literature.

When Antoine began rehearsing his first play, it became clear that Kraus and some of the actors were afraid of having Zola's and his like-minded writers' names on the theater's billboards. The "Gallic Circle" feared political manifestations. Antoine then broke ties with Kraus and some of his like-minded colleagues and started a new venture, which became known as the "Free Theater," in which Antoine worked until 1894. The first performance of the "Free Theater," held in a small tavern on Montmartre, was attended by famous writers, artists, and representatives of Parisian newspapers. Among them were Zola, Mallarme, and Rodin.

From that day on, the success of Antoine's impoverished troupe began to grow. The first three one-act plays were performed in tense silence and with the full attention of the audience. The last one received a stormy ovation. It was a success. The "Free Theater," which lasted for about ten years, revealed Antoine's major tendencies in his reformist activities. The new Parisian theater faced the task of forming a new repertoire. At that time, both academic and boulevard theaters had established stable repertoires. These included plays by Scribe, Dumas the Younger, Ohnet, Sardou, Richepin, and Onéz. Even "Hamlet" was staged in an adaptation by Dumas the Elder at the Comedie Francaise.

In the manifesto of the "Free Theater," Antoine declared: "First of all, the public is tired of performances that are invariably similar to each other, as the dramatic production is limited to about fifteen writers who move from theater to theater, monopolize the billboards, and offer the audience the same mixture, only changing the names. Each of them has their own brand, quite similar to their neighbor's brand: each invariably repeats the same play, which becomes worse and worse after each recurrence, as people age and the skillful hand becomes heavier. Theater directors tirelessly offer the audience the results of this decline, but the satiated spectators turn away and go their own way." Antoine introduced the subscription system in theatrical practice for the first time, which immediately deprived the theater of its commercial character, but allowed it to bypass censorship, as the subscription system made the theater closed to the mass audience. Antoine actively shaped a modern repertoire in his theater - he worked extensively with authors. 115 plays by French authors began their stage life in the "Free Theater." The theater's director proclaimed the principle of "liberal eclecticism," providing his stage for all contemporary literary schools and trends, as well as for plays rejected by professional major theaters.

The "Free Theater" aimed to bring to life the new aesthetic views presented in the French theater and drama of Emile Zola and Andre Bec. This theater became the first non-commercial theater in Europe. It promoted works of contemporary domestic and theatrical drama, predominantly of a realistic and naturalistic nature. The theater's repertoire was primarily composed of plays by P. Alexis, L. Ennery, A. Sera, J. Julien, O. Metenier, J. Ance, J. Porto-Riche, and E. Brieux, as well as the Goncourt brothers. However, Antoine, following the principle of "liberal eclecticism," could not neglect the works of "aesthetizing" authors of the time: he staged plays by E. Berger, C. Mendes, T. Banville, F. Curel, and M. Barres.

The naturalistic theater movement sought to oppose its plays to bourgeois salon drama and the "well-crafted plays" of fashionable playwrights. However, the drama of naturalists also had its limitations, as they mainly sought truth in the dirty, corrupt, and grotesque life of the urban lower class. It was among the playwrights of the "Free Theater" that a new genre of naturalistic drama, "comédie rosse" (coarse comedy), emerged. It deliberately presented a crude comedy that openly exposed everything that official stages and their "bourgeois drama" did not dare to show. Julien wrote "Serenade," Metenier wrote "In the Family" and "The Saucepan," and Alexis wrote "The End of Lucy Pellegrin" - all of these plays consisted of short scenes, in which the connection between the scenes was not important, but rather the physiognomy and naturalness of everyday life, slang, behavior of gangsters, prostitutes, and ruffians. Some of these plays provoked strong criticism, and Antoine had to agree with it.

Among the playwrights discovered by Antoine, the name of F. de Curel is often mentioned ("The Inside of a Saint," "The Fossils"). His plays were subsequently performed in many Parisian theaters, and he himself became a prolific playwright. Admirers of his plays called him the "French Ibsen" and considered his main achievement the creation of "the theater of the spirit," that is, intellectual French drama fundamentally different from salon plays and adultery dramas. In this theater, the greatest pessimism prevailed - Curel believed that we have lost love, science, and faith in the modern world, and, therefore, any action is meaningless. He saw hope for the future in the aristocracy of blood and spirit, which he entrusted with the mission of reviving the nation.

Andre Antoine was the first to stage a series of plays by Eugene Brieux, and the performance of "Blanchette" based on his play became a significant event in the life of the "Free Theater" (1892). The play dealt with the relationship between a proud peasant and his daughter - the playwright "accused" bourgeois society of the breakdown of peasant families. Blanchette, who received an education, became a stranger in her own environment. The girl cannot find a use for her abilities and knowledge, so she becomes a courtesan.

The success of the performance was tremendous, and Antoine himself played a role in it. However, these characters and such a presentation of the problem were so new that experienced critics demanded the sharpness of the conflict to be softened and the ending to be made more optimistic. Antoine categorically refused to make any changes, and the play continued to run to enthusiastic reception from some and protests from others in subsequent seasons.

The staging of Leo Tolstoy's play "The Power of Darkness," which was banned in Russia at the time, became a significant event in the Parisian theater scene. In 1887, it was specially translated for the "Free Theater," and Antoine embarked on a project that intrigued all theater and literary circles in Paris. In 1888, before the premiere, letters from Dumas the Younger, Ojier, and Sardou appeared in the journal "Nouvelle Revue," stating that "The Power of Darkness" would be of no interest to the French audience, and that the play was not stage-worthy. However, the predictions of France's greatest authorities were wrong - Antoine's production was a tremendous success. The renowned theater critic Vogüe called the performance the "Battle of Austerlitz."

In 1893, "The Weavers" by Hauptmann triumphantly premiered at the "Free Theater." After the premiere, Andre Antoine wrote in his diary: "It must be recognized that no French playwright is capable of depicting such a broad and powerful fresco... This is a masterpiece of the emerging social theater, and the enthusiastic Zola asked me to convey that such a performance brings more benefit than any political campaign or discussion."

Under Antoine's direction, the plays of Ibsen, such as "Ghosts" and "Hedda Gabler," Bjørnson's "Bankruptcy," Turgenev's "The Nihilist," and Strindberg's "Miss Julie," were staged for the first time in France.

The aesthetic of theatrical naturalism, which was supported by Antoine, found its spread in the 1880s and 1890s, becoming, as Antoine put it, "one of the laboratories of the modern realistic school." The aesthetic of theatrical naturalism was substantiated in the works of Emile Zola, such as "The Experimental Novel," "Naturalism in Theater," and "Our Playwrights." Naturalism, born to oppose entertainment-oriented drama, the craftsmanship of commercial theater, and the cold academism and routine of contemporary art, called for actors to "experience the play," strive for naturalness and simplicity in their performances, and seek motivation for the behavior of their characters. In France, the naturalistic movement was most fully expressed in the staging of Zola's novels and his play "Thérèse Raquin."

However, naturalism lost its relevance and, like any movement in art, revealed its limitations over time. Critics argued that naturalist plays turned into "Darwinian etudes," that the performances were static "slices of life," and that the social nature of man completely subordinated the spiritual. The naturalistic theater movement also led to an obsession with analyzing pathological phenomena of human psychology, clinical details in characters, and excessive physiological realism. For example, in one of the "Free Theater" performances, real meat carcasses were used on stage. It is not surprising that naturalism soon fell into decline (by the end of the 19th century) and degenerated into "horror theater" on one hand, and symbolism and impressionism on the other. However, at the time when Antoine created his theater and fought against routine, naturalism was still young and fresh.

Andre Antoine detailed the artistic program of the "Free Theater" in his book. He explained that the core of the theater troupe consisted of young people who performed comedies for their own enjoyment for three years. When Antoine invited amateur actors to his theater, he knew perfectly well that they should count on the audience's indulgence. For example, in Tolstoy's "The Power of Darkness" in 1888, the roles were played by a civil servant from the Ministry of Finance, a secretary of the police secretariat, an architect, a chemist, a wine merchant, a traveling salesman, a factory owner, and the main female roles were played by a dressmaker, a bookbinder, and a postal worker. However, critics saw an excellent ensemble and a well-played play. The connoisseur of Russian customs, Vogüe, expressed extreme surprise at the remarkable truthfulness with which the leading roles were played in his article. The support of critics and the attention of the audience were extremely important for the actors who had now completely transitioned to the theater, leaving their old professions behind, and fearlessly performed on various stages, especially since the "Free Theater" soon embarked on tours to different countries.

Antoine posed the question of why inexperienced actors, who only had natural talent and no classical theatrical education, were able to perform such a diverse repertoire, and perform it quite successfully. But the answer to this question is connected to the state of the acting school of the time. According to Antoine, it was a school of declamation, which was overshadowed by the more privileged music school. There were four declamation classes in the conservatory, headed by actors from leading French theaters, including the Comedie Francaise. However, as they were busy with performances, they devoted very little time to their students. Antoine sharply criticized such an education system, where a teacher could provide more advice than practical training with students, whereas Antoine himself worked extensively and meticulously with the actors.

On the other hand, the emergence of new dramatic works by a new generation of writers also demanded the theater to search for new expressive means. These works were full of life observations and naturalistic details, which required actors to delve into their stage behavior and embody a special truthfulness. Essentially, these new works abolished the standard theatrical roles, which Antoine supported, demanding that actors always "directly study nature," observe and portray truth.

Furthermore, a new relationship was established between theater and life - life itself, its essence, and new life types became interesting to the theater. Naturally, in the "Free Theater," which advocated for life, the principles of staging a performance had to be approached differently. Thus, the set design had to become a "believable frame" for the actors, so that the actors would not gesture in a standard manner or declaim in an exaggerated way, but fill their performances with simple gestures, genuine movements of contemporary people living in the present day. The new expressiveness meant a complete rejection of any theatrical pomp and affectation.

By creating the "Free Theater," Antoine firmly opposed melodrama, bourgeois drama, and "cleverly crafted plays" by fashionable playwrights. Instead of stereotypical theatrical characters like "lovers," "heroes," and "neurotics" that filled the stages of academic theaters, he brought real-life characters to the stage.