Vieux-Colombier Theater: 1913-1993

This work documents the theatrical and architectural history of a legendary place. In 1913, when Jacques Copeau founded the Vieux-Colombier to oppose the "cowardice of mercantile theater", rejecting decor, machinery and props in order to favor the work and the author, he was joined by Jouvet, Dullin and Valentine Tessier. After 1924, when Copeau ended his experiment, he was succeeded by Jean Tedesco, René Rocher, Marthe Mercadier, Pierre Brasseur, the Pitoëffs, Alain Cuny, Germaine Montero, Laurent Terzieff and Suzanne Flon. Sartre played Huis Clos there under the German occupation and Antonin Artaud gave his Uninterrupted Conference in 1947. The “cellar rats” came to listen to jazz, and Léo Ferré, Mouloudji and Catherine Sauvage made their debuts there. On April 7, 1993, it was with two pieces by Nathalie Sarraute, Le Silence and Elle est là, that the room renovated by Bernard Kohn, Claude Perset and Yannis Kokkos, with absolute respect for architecture, materials and volumes, began a new life inhabited by the actors of the Comédie-Française.

Île-de-France Regional Book Prize 1994.