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48 | 2020
Les comédiens itinérants à Bruxelles au XVIIIe siècle

Travelling Actors in 18th-century Brussels
Edited by Jean-Philippe Van Aelbrouck
Les comédiens itinérants à Bruxelles au XVIIIe siècle
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Credits: © Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles, photo : J. Geleyns - Art Photography
ISBN 978-2-8004-1768-4

How does one become an actor? What makes actors roam from troupe to troupe and from town to town? Why are actors adulated on stage and despised in the city? 

The history and life of travelling theatre companies in the 18th century has been the subject of numerous monographs, all centred on a particular aspect, a city or, more rarely, a region.

However, the general history of the theatre is well known to us and numerous studies have analysed its main literary currents, the significant chronological events, the architectural transformations of the performance venues. Yet rarely have the authors of these studies looked into the life of a troupe, its relation to money and power; the public persona of the performing actor has been studied and commented upon, but the private persona he reverts to after the performance has largely been ignored.

Beyond the written play, the theatrical performance, and the roles played by the actors, our approach focuses on the narrow space between the stage and the dressing rooms, those backstage areas where the actor suddenly becomes an ordinary person again, where he passes without transition from the honoured to the ignored character, where he transforms magic back into banality. How does one become an actor? What makes actors roam from troupe to troupe and from town to town? Why are actors adulated on stage and despised in the city? These are all questions that we attempt to answer by shedding light on the theatrical event in its relationship with society and its various components, such as power and ‘social classes,’ family, religion, the economy, the organisation of the theatrical enterprise, nomadism and travel—all with Brussels centre stage.

Editor's notes

Publié avec le soutien du Fonds national de la recherche scientifique - FNRS.

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