ABSTRACT
The First Gentlemen governed the theater through a series of ordinances which were consolidated, in 1719, into a formal set of “regluations” carrying the authority of a royal decree.2 However, the Comédiens themselves composed their own repertory by drawing from both the extensive, permanent repertory (which included the complete works of Racine, Corneille, and Molière) and from among the new plays submitted to them. Thus, dramatic authors differed from their contemporaries, linguists, historians or figurative artists who worked within royal academies, in that playwrights remained external to the body that controlled their work and mediated among them, their patrons and their audiences. From the standpoint of the actors, authors of new works remained practically superfluous and potentially dangerous, since new plays required outlays of costs and ran the risk of not attracting a sufficient audience to generate revenue. Although the troupe would eventually add any new plays that it chose to perform to its permanent repertory, the actors performed relatively few new works each year – generally works by a well-known author, such as Voltaire, brought to them by a broker.
