The First Theatrical Venture

THE FIRST THEATRICAL VENTURE The Illustre contract between the members of the Illustre Theatre was of a kind that had been familiar to the theatrical fraternity since Charles VI. had accorded his royal protection to the Confreres de la Passion in 15oz. Each of the associates contributed to the funds of the company, and enjoyed in return a share in the profits and properties. No member might withdraw or be dismissed except at four months' notice. The plays were cast and the affairs of the theatre managed by a ma jority vote of the company. Madeleine Bejart was, by a special provision, entitled to choose her own part in every play, and it was stipulated that the heroes should be impersonated alternately by Moliere and two other members of the company. The com pany leased for three years a tennis court near the Porte de Nesle, at a rental of 1,900 livres. While, however, the necessary structural alterations were being made, the company visited Rouen, and it was probably in that city in Nov. 1643 that Moliere made his first appearance as a professional actor. In December the company returned to Paris and urged on the work at the tennis court. In particular, Leonard Aubry, of the king's Office of Works, was urgently pressed to complete in good time the paving of the road in front of the theatre.

The history of the

Illustre Theatre is obscure. Its repertory consisted mainly of tragedies long since forgotten, and the only authentic evidence we have of its fortunes is a record of financial embarrassment. In Dec. 1644 we find the company indebted to Francois Pommier for 2,000 livres, and Marie Herve, who made herself responsible for this debt, had pledged her house to an other creditor of the company for 'J o° livres. In Dec. 1644 the receipts and assets of the company were all earmarked for its creditors, and the lease of the theatre was cancelled on the 14th of the month. Undaunted by these crushing reverses, the com pany moved to the tennis court of the Croix Noire on the Quai des Ormes, without, however, changing its fortunes. In March of the following year Moliere, who had previously pawned two handsome ribbons with a milliner for 291 livres, undertook to make good any deficit that might be incurred on their sale. He was unable to discharge this debt until 15 years later, on May 13, 1659, two days after the first performance in Paris of L'Etourdi.

The financial troubles of the company culminated in March in the imprisonment of Moliere for debt at the suit of the master chandler who supplied the theatre with candles. Francois Pom mier likewise obtained a warrant against him, and he seems also to have been detained at the suit of a certain linen draper for the sum of 24o livres.

Too little is known of the work of the Illustre Theatre to jus tify a discussion of its dramatic achievements. The biographical interest of the venture lies rather in the attitude of the two families who were principally concerned. That of the Marts is clear enough. Marie Herve, signatory of the act of association, with three of her children in the company, supported the enter prise to the limit of her resources. She regarded Moliere as in a sense one of the family, and treated his liabilities as being on the same footing as those of her own children. What was the attitude of Jean Poquelin? He had finally acquiesced in his son's adventure, and had even supplied him with the money to buy a share in the company. But he made no effort to help his son while the company still persisted in an enterprise which to him must have seemed hazardous and even fantastic. When, how ever, it was clear that the adventure could go no further, he lost no time in coming to the rescue. Leonard Aubry, whom we have seen paving the way for the Illustre Theatre in Dec. 1643, went bail for Moliere on his imprisonment in 1645, and guaranteed that Francois Pommier should be paid for account of the debtor the sum of 320 livres in weekly installments of 4o livres until the debt was discharged. On Dec. 24, 1646, Jean Poquelin him self assumed this liability and further payments by Jean Poquelin are recorded, amounting in all to 1,965 livres. Moliere discharged these debts as soon as he could, and 23 years later he was able, in turn, to lend his father 1o,000 livres under cover of a third party, for the reconstruction of the Maison sous les pillters des Halles. There is certainly nothing in the financial or personal dealings of father and son which can be quoted to the discredit of either party, and there is no real ground for any of the legends in which Jean Poquelin figures either as a mortally injured father or a monster of avarice.