Abstract
It's often said that the Comédie-Française rests on three pillars : the Troupe, the Repertoire and the Alternance. A fourth is certainly missing, one without which it would have no reason to exist : the audience. The public as a collective experience, as an entity in itself constitutive of diversity. Theater historian Florence Naugrette and Éric Ruf will join us to examine this social body, which is more composite and complementary than we might imagine.
Florence Naugrette
Florence Naugrette has been a professor at Sorbonne University since 2013, where she holds the chair of " History and theory of theater (XIXth-XXIst centuries) ". Author of works on 19th century theater, particularly Romantic theatre, a book on the pleasure of the theatre-going public, and studies on Hugo, Musset, Dumas, Mérimée, Renan, Offenbach, Rostand and Sardou, she has also worked, for the 20th and 21st centuries, on Claudel, Jean Vilar, Cocteau and Ivo van Hove. Her research seminars focus on the history of theater, its political dimension and contemporary productions. She directs two digital humanities programs : the 19th century section of the Registres de la Comédie-Française (in collaboration with Nanterre University, the Massachussets Institute of Technology, New York University, the Comédie-Française and the University of Victoria) and the edition of Juliette Drouet's epistolary diary to Victor Hugo (in collaboration with the University of Rouen). In May 2025, she will lead an international symposium entitled " La Comédie-Française racontée par ses publics " (Comédie-Française and INHA), bringing together researchers from Sorbonne University, Université Paris Nanterre, University of Victoria, New York University, etc.
