- ホーム
- > 洋書
- > 英文書
- > Performing Arts
Full Description
This deeply accomplished and lively monograph charts the career of a travelling French actor-manager whose impact and significance have been overlooked.
The "inimitable Monsieur Francisque" (François Moylin, c. 1690-1770), was an extraordinary actor-manager and key figure in the early eighteenth-century theatre world of both England and France. Leader of a family of gifted performers, including his niece, the famous dancer-choreographer Marie Sallé, he took them to every corner of France and beyond, playing before Louis XV as well as George I and II of England.
However, despite his fame among his contemporaries, Francisque's career has been largely overlooked. Robert V. Kenny resurrects Moylin from the footnotes of theatre history with this detailed case-study of an entrepreneurial actor-manager, his troupe and their repertory. Following them from the Paris fairs to the courts of Europe, via one of the worst riots in English theatre history, the book showcases the giddying range of activities and performances undertaken by this family and their associates.
Through the careful piecing together of diverse and fragmentary historical records, Kenny reveals the crucial role played by Francisque and his troupe in the conflict between Parisian fairground players and the established theatres, stressing Francisque's major contribution to the development of opéra-comique. This book not only revives Moylin's legacy but enriches our understanding of cross-cultural theatrical exchanges in eighteenth-century Europe.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Notes
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Moylin, Sallé, Cochois, the gathering of the clan: 1690-1714
2. Francisque at the Fairs: 1715-1718
3. The first London season: 1718-1719
4. The open road between London and the Paris Fairs: 1720-1721
5. Success and failure in London and Paris: 1721
6. The fight goes on: Francisque and the first plays of Alexis Piron: 1722-1723
7. A provincial interlude and a Paris triumph: 1724-1726
8. Farewell to the Fairs and return to the provinces: 1726-1734
9. Monsieur Francisque in Brussels and London: 1733-1734
10. The London season, 1734-1735: Part One
11. The London season, 1734-1735: Part Two
12. Brief scenes from the French provinces: 1736-1737
13. 'A sharp and bloody battle': the Haymarket riot: October 1738
14. 'Comédiens du Roi': last years and final curtain: 1739-1770
15. Francisque's legacy and family fortunes
Appendices
I Contract for the Théâtre de la Monnaie: Brussels 1733
II The repertoire of the London season 1734 to 1735
III Micault's manuscript list of performances in Dijon, 1739-40 and 1750-1
Bibliography
Index
