A collection of

information
A Study Guide of Sorts

Information collected by the Abelard Drama Class (2019)

Assembled and edited by Talia S-E.

Note: Most textual content is taken directly from students in the drama class, and assembled here. This study guide is
a collection of information taken from posters that many individuals worked on. Some editing has been done, to
either condense or expand specific sections, but there are many cases of full paragraphs taken from posters. I wasn’t
able to get the names of the people who worked on the specific posters, but as the people seeing this are members of
the drama class, credit goes to you guys. Hopefully this is helpful!

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Topic Page

A collection of information 1

Table of contents 2

Essentials of Theatre by Aristotle & 3

Rules for Theatre by Horace

Le Théatre Baroque 4

L’Académie Française 5

Querelle du cid 6

Molière 7

Production history 8

The Impostures of Scapin’s Inspiration 9

1920s France 10

Quick Facts 11

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Essentials of Theatre by Aristotle + Rules for Theatre by Horace
I. Plot - “The life and soul of any story.” - Aristotle
A. What makes a story great? You can take the most interesting characters, themes, and
setting, but if you don’t establish some sort of situation, it’s meaningless. Conflict can
make a play, but one must be careful to introduce it in a somewhat believable manner.
II. Character - “Character determines man’s qualities, but it is by their actions that they are
happy or the reverse.” - Aristotle
A. If you don’t make your characters compelling, the audience won’t care about them.
III. Thought - “The faculty of saying what is possible or pertinent in given circumstances.
Thought is found where something is proven to be or not to be.” - Aristotle
IV. Diction - Aristotle recommends a healthy middle ground to be taken, with speech formality.
Clarity is important, but some complexities are needed so as to not underwhelm the
audience.
V. Melody
A. When Aristotle made these rules, the chorus was a key element of the play. Melody was
useful in helping the audience understand the plot and themes of the play.
VI. Spectacle - “The production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage
machinist than on that of the poet.” - Aristotle
A. The basic meaning of this quote serves to promote the idea that a bad play isn’t
necessarily the fault of the playwright. It is up to said playwright to compose a script with
believable characters and a captivating plot, but some things remain out of the author’s
hands entirely. An actor might not be suited to a character’s roles, and a production
might not have the budget to create more than a few rudimentary set pieces.

Horace’s rules are, of course, rules, rather than generals on what a play should contain. Though
they seem perfectly adequate, there will always be exceptions to these rules.
I. Comedy and tragedy should never be combined.
II. A play should have five acts.
III. Only three speaking characters should be on stage at a time.
IV. The gods should not be brought into the story unless doing so is the only way to resolve it.
V. The chorus should be used to move the action along and be in high morals.
VI. Drama should both entertain and instruct an audience.
VII. It should avoid extreme emotions, and attempt to be truthful.
VIII. Keep to decorum - nothing too far from the status quo.

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Le Théatre Baroque (16th - 18th century)
The Baroque era started in the 16th century and ended in the18th. In France, it started at the
end of a politically unstable period. For French theatre, it yielded both the production of
classically-inspired plays, and more intricate stage settings. All over Europe, an abundance of
plays were being written and performed. The height of Spanish Golden Age theatre, and the
Jacobean theatrical scene happened at roughly the same time. The emphasis on excess was
promoted by the Roman Catholic Church’s use of beauty as a weapon against the Reformation.,
so plays were infused with some religion. But sometimes, bringing together doctrine and drama
proved controversial, true skill shown by those who could create compelling theatre while
avoiding heresy. Molière’s play Tartuffe was banned for its controversial ideas.

The nature of performance and presentation were valued greatly. Louis XIV was quite fond of
theatre, which in many ways set the standard for the country’s theatrical ambition. Theatre was
enjoyed mainly by the aristocracy. The character of a well-executed baroque play is balance:
between the secular and religious, between aesthetics and morals, and between appearances and
reality. Contrast drives plot forward. Plays presented different customs but kept in accordance to
societal values. But too much contrast might cause an audience to balk. It could be off-putting
how stray chunks of nationalism, a daily requirement, might appear within a rather troublesome
narrative. Though people preferred the classical Unities, nothing was simple in Baroque theatre.
Everything had an edge to it, even genre. Many popular writers would mix genres together,
resulting in the paradox of the tragicomedy. François Ogier, a clergyman and writer, thought that
to keep to one mood/genre for an entire play was to ignore the complexity of life.

Equipment for stage illusions was often used in court performances, taken largely from Greek
stagecraft which along with that of Ancient Rome had been rediscovered in Italy. (Baroque
trends tended to spread from Italy through visits of artists to the court.) Elaborate set design was
used, and even changed between scenes. By the mid-17th century, people had developed easier
ways of changing the set, nearly all mechanical inventions entering the country from Italy. One
of the most important theatres of the early Baroque was the Hôtel de Bourgogne, originally
owned by the controversial Confrérie de la Passion troupe (whose lack of tact when handling Biblical
stories resulted in them being banned from producing religious dramas) and during their decline
they rented the space to other companies, among which were several Italian Commedia troupes,
whose characters and energies made their way into popular culture and would go on to inspire
the dramatis personae of many Baroque works, including Les Fourberies de Scapin.

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The Académie Française
The Académie Française, also referred to as simply
L’académie, was officially established by Cardinal
Richelieu under Louis XIII in the year 1635. It was
discontinued during the French Revolution in 1793,
but was restored in 1803 bay Napoleon Bonaparte.

One of the roles of the Académie is to carry out its

mission of clarifying the French language, which they call “the Latin of the moderns”. To do this,
they create a dictionary that is universal, and accessible to all. This dictionary is recorded in
alphabetical order, and includes the definitions of each word; it also shows the appropriate use of
words, and how to use them in conversation, speeches, and writing/works of literature. Old,
popular, offensive, and regional words are usually excluded. The derivatives and compounds of a
word are grouped under one heading. From 1694 to the present day, the dictionary has been
published in eight editions, one in each of the following years: 1718, 1740, 1762, 1798, 1835,
1878, 1932 - 1935, and 1922. The ninth edition is being worked on.

It is an organization that regulates and moderates the French language. It sets certain standards
for French grammar and vocabulary. The Académie was the second organization to ever create a
French dictionary, while the first was made in 1499, and was a Breton-French-Latin dictionary.
The first Dictionnaire de L’Académie Française contained over 18,000 terms. Currently, the
Académie is focusing on keeping French pure, and lessening English influence on the language.
The Académie is currently writing the 9th edition.

Members of the Académie are often referred to as “Les Immortels” or “Les Quarante”.
Currently, there are 40 members, and new ones are chosen by peers. Being chosen as an
Immortel is considered a supreme honour, and is a lifelong commitment unless membership is
revoked for misconduct. New members are chosen after the death of an Immortel, or after said
membership is revoked. The sword is a sign the academician belongs, and is sent to a new
member a few days before being accepted into the academy. It is officially offered to them during
a ceremony, and is returned to family on account of the death of a member. The official uniform
of the Immortels is a long black cloak embroidered with green botanical motifs that are
accessorized with elaborate ceremonial swords.

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Querelle du Cid
Le Cid is a play written by Pierre Corneille (1606-1684). Corneille wasn’t a rule follower. Before writing Le
Cid, he had been employed by Cardinal Richelieu, the head of the Académie Française. He was supposed
to write model tragedies with several other authors, but quit abruptly, unable to put up with taking orders
and working with others.

Querelle du Cid translates roughly to “the quarrel of the Cid”. It was initially a success, but became quite
controversial. Le Cid takes place over 24 hours. It tells the story of a young man named Rodrigue, and the
girl he loves, Chimène. But Chimène’s arrogant father Don Gomès mortally insults Rodrigue’s father, who
asks Rodrigue to duel Gomès. He anguishes about his decision, but ends up duelling Gomès, and killing
him.

Understandably, Chimène is furious when she finds out. Rodrigue goes to visit, but hides and overhears
Chimène’s conversation with the governess as she laments about the situation. Chimène says she will kill
Rodrigue and then herself. Rodrigue comes out, and gives her his sword, telling her to kill him. She is
unable to, and Rodrigue returns home.

Then he’s sent off to fight in a war, and hopes to prove himself and win back Chimène’s love. He’s so
successful that the invaders nickname him al-sayyid, “the lord”. On his return, the king lies to Chimène
and says he’s died, and her reaction proves she still loves him. Yet she needs to avenge her father, and Don
Sanche offers to fight Rodrigue on her behalf, on the condition that she marries the victor. Rodrigue wins,
and Chimène’s agrees to marry him after a year has passed to mourn her father.

Corneille describes le Cid as a “tragicomedy”, but his bending of rules is considered an offence to Aristotle.
Critics claimed that the characters were implausible and morally dubious. It also defies the three unities by
breaking the unity of place, and action. But the main criticism is that Chimène was wrong to forgive her
father’s murderer and that the play, in defending her continued love for Rodrigue, encouraged immorality.
Cardinal Richelieu ordered an analysis of the play, that showed it was not a good ethical example for
theatre, nor did it conform to typical tragedy.

It was decided the play polluted society, and all public performances of it were banned. Regardless of
whether Chimène was right to forgive Rodrigue, the characters in Le Cid are nuanced, and just because a
morally dubious character ends up happy, doesn’t mean that the author is encouraging that behaviour.

After the pamphlet war caused by le Cid controversy and the Académie’s denunciation of the play,
Corneille didn’t write another play for three years. And when he came back to the craft, he made sure
only to write tragedies that not even the most aggressive Aristotelian purest could denounce.

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Molière
Quick facts
Name: Jean-Baptiste Poquelin.
Stage name: Molière.
Born: 1622.
Died: 1673, at age 51.
Number of plays written: 33

Notable plays
• Tartuffe.
• The Imaginary Invalid.
• The Impostures of Scapin.
• The Misanthrope.

Molière was born into an affluent family, and received a rich education. When he was 21, he
relinquished his social class so as to pursue an acting career. Acting was regarded as a ridiculous
profession, and some speculate that his decision to change his name was to avoid the humiliation
his father would suffer having an actor in the family.

Due to his spectacular writing and acting, he acquired the patronage of Philippe I, the Duke of
Orléans. Later in his life, after a performance in front of the king, he was granted use of the Salle
du petit-Borbone, a special room for performances. He was eventually granted the use of the
theatre in the Palais-Royal, and given a royal pension.

His death was due to tuberculosis, and due to the circumstances became somewhat of a legend.
He collapsed in a fit of coughing while performing in the last play he had ever written, yet still
completed the performance. He was taken home after haemorrhaging again, and died just hours
later. Because of his talents, and the pleas of his widow Armande, he became an exception to the
French law stating that actors were not permitted to be buried in the cemetery.

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Production History of Impostures of Scapin
Quick facts
First performance: May 24th, 1671, at the Theatre du Palais-Royal.
Times performed before Molière’s death in 1673: 16.
Times performed between 1677 and 1715: 197.

(After his death, the friends of Molière put the play on to immense success. It was one of the
most influential plays in French Theatre at the time.)

Notable productions
1968: The director Edmond Tamiz also played the titular character Scapin. It was performed at
the Theatre of Eastern Paris, located in (surprise surprise) Paris, France.
1993: Directed by Denise Filiatrault, with David Savard as Scapin. Performed at Theatre-Saint-
Denis, in Montréal, Quebec.
2017: Directed by David Podalydes, with Benjamin Laverne as Scapin. Performed at Comédie-
Française in Paris, France. It is thought to be the oldest still-acting theatre in the world.
2018: “Scapin 68” was directed by Thierry Debroux, with Julien Besure as Scapin. It was
performed at the Theatre Royal du Parc, in Brussels, Belgium.

There were also several film adaptations, one example being the 1981 version directed by Roger
Coggio, who also played Scapin.

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The Inspiration for The Impostures of Scapin
Les Fourberies de Scapin is the original name of the comedy written by Molière,
that premiered in 1671 Paris. It goes by a few other names, such as Scapin the
Schemer, and The Impostures of Scapin. But what was Molière’s inspiration?
Molière spent 12 years travelling with a theatre troupe. He was surrounded
by sources of inspiration, and was closely acquainted with the lifestyle of an
actor. His time was spent learning about acting, theatre, and staging.
Additionally, he saw how the audience responded to aspects of the plays,
and figured out the elements that had to come together to make a great play.
Aristotle and Horace’s rules for theatre were useful in that way.

Molière also grew interested in Commedia Dell’arte. He drew inspiration from the stock
characters when writing The Impostures of Scapin. All of the play’s characters are some
combination of said stock characters. For example, Scapin is a Zanni type, with hints of
Colombina, Argante and Géronte are both Pantalone characters, and Zerbinette is a Colombina.

But Molière didn’t only borrow the characters from Commedia Dell’arte! He also borrowed the
ideas, and the acting style. In the 17th century, when he was writing his plays, the acting style of
France was serious, declamatory, and intense, while Commedia Dell’arte was more spontaneous,
and natural. It also had a fair amount of physical comedy, in contrast to the general French plays
at the time. Inspired, Molière developed his own light, swift, physical acting style.

We’ve covered acting style and characters, but where did he get the general premise? Molière
took many ideas from the Roman playwrights Terence and Plautus. The Impostures of Scapin is
quite similar to Terence’s play Phormio, and Plautus’s play Bacchides. Phormio featured a clever
servant helping two men marry the respective women they love, rather than the ones their fathers
want them to marry. There is also financial extortion of the fathers by the servant. Similarly, in
Bacchides, two young brothers loved two women that had the same name. and fathers were upset.

It is likely that both Plautus and Terence took their ideas from New Greek Comedy, as characters
such as servants that are able to outsmart their masters, and young couples fighting to be together
were quite common.

Some other people that inspired Molière were Flaminio Scala, who published a collection of
Commedia Dell’arte scenarios, and a French Dramatist named Cyrano de Bergerac.

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1920s France
It was the decade after the Great War. The economy had crashed, countless people had died,
buildings had been broken. And yet, morale was bolstered enough to distract the people from
their misery.

During the Franco-German/Franco-Prussian war in the early 1870s, Germany had taken French
land, dubbing it the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine. But, after the Great War, France won
it back, which was a cause for celebration among the people.

Of course, after a war, there was still civil unrest. The government was unable to escape from
short term debts, which meant taxes were steadily rising to help cover costs. The wealthy
comfortably wriggled through loopholes, but the poor were not so lucky. This spurred the
conservatives to be kicked out of office, to be replaced with leftist prime-minister Édouard
Herriot, who favoured state controls.

But a change in leadership wasn’t enough. The problem of inflation plagued the people, and the
official currency of France, appropriately called the franc, was failing. But the US dollar was
useful in France, and for creative individuals in America, France was the perfect place to go to
express their ideas.

Jazz became an important piece of French culture. It was one of the most popular music styles at
the time, and served as a creative outlet for many. But jazz wasn’t the only new artistic style!
French fashion was rapidly changing as well into something more modern.

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Quick Facts
The different character types in commedia dell’arte:
- Arlecchino.
• The Arlecchino archetype is often silly, perpetually hungry, and simple minded, but morally
good. Said character provides a lot of comedic relief, and is usually presented as a faithful
servant to the inamorato. He often moves around a lot, and carries a slapstick. He’s
acrobatic, and has a colourful, patchwork costume.
- Colombina.
• She’s usually the bright, mischievous maid. Intelligent, and able to convince others to do
what is probably the right thing.
- Brighella.
• He’s the shrewd, greedy servant, who sometimes plays tricks. He might be fairly well off, and
morally corrupt. Willing to do what is necessary to benefit himself. He’s a jack of all trades,
whose loyalty could be bought.
- Il Capitano.
• Vain, deceitful soldier, who boasts about made-up exploits. Talks up a big game, but is
generally terrified of everything. He would sometimes carry a large sword, that he pretends
to be able to use.
- Il Dottore.
• Traditionally dressed as a medieval doctor, with a large suit. He wears a mask showcasing
his large nose. Is a doctor in name only, and often uses a variety of complex sounding words,
and fake latin. Pretends to be veretuousiotrioanos, but makes up words.
- Pantalone.
• This character is usually an old, wealthy man. He’s a miser, and hoards his stash of gold
close to his person. Sometimes he’s shown as the father of Colombina.

La comédie Française
- La comédie Française, also known as La Maison de Molière, and more formally known as Le
Théatre Française was started by an acting troupe. The theatre was founded in 1680 by Louis
XIV, and is considered the oldest theatre in the world that is still active. Molière is its spiritual
patron, so to speak. It has a permanent troupe of actors. A notable actor who performed there
was François-Joseph Talma. He was expelled at a Parisian boarding school for promoting
atheism, but moved to England to write plays in French that grew popular very quickly. He
probably would have become a Shakespearean actor but he went to Paris to join la Comédie
Française.

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