ABSTRACT
Most twentieth-century European theatre directors have been indissociable from the theatre companies they have founded; no closer relationship between director and company can be found than that between Ariane Mnouchkine (b. 1939) and the Théâtre du Soleil. This symbiosis is, in part, the result of the funding mechanism for theatre companies by the French state that subsidises the individual director rather than the company as an entity. But in Mnouchkine’s case this symbiosis is furthered by several important factors including the theatre space the company occupies, the nature of the company as a collective, and the direct political action in which Mnouchkine, under the umbrella of her company, has been engaged. Mnouchkine’s career has always been associated with her company. She has not directed outside its aegis, and the national and international accolades her productions have garnered have placed the Théâtre du Soleil at the very forefront of international theatre practice in the past forty years.
