Introduction : « Le théâtre est l’art de contenter la dame », ou ce que la réception des femmes fait au théâtre

Abstract

This volume intends to examine the role played by women, as readers and especially as spectators, in the development of European drama from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Indeed, early modern theatre focuses on love, creates active female characters, and investigates the relationship between the sexes, at a time when the playwrights increasingly claimed pleasure as the purpose of the theatre and the audience as the judge of their plays. The analysis of multiple sources and the examination of various practices and situations make it possible to compare the real practices of female spectators, but also of patrons and actresses, with the more or less fantasized representations of the female audience and of its influence that are constructed in the texts. Although it remains difficult to determine the influence of female reception on playwriting, the survey shows the importance of the economic, political and cultural contexts in which the theatre developed, and highlights the participation of many women – authors, professional or occasional actresses, patrons and sponsors – in theatrical activities, thereby underlining the freedom of dramatic fiction in relation to the social norms and constraints weighing on women in particular.

Keywords

• spectatorship
• gender
• female audience
• theatre
• reception
• female patronage