ABSTRACT
On 12 September 1643, the Illustre Theatre, of which Moliere was a member, rented the jeu de paume des Mestayers with the intention of converting it into a theatre. 1 The first building in which Moliere performed professionally was, therefore, a former tennis court. Paume had been popular since the Middle Ages, but had declined by the seventeenth century, leaving many buildings empty. There was at this time only one purposebuilt theatre in Paris: the Hotel de Bourgogne, constructed by the Confrerie de Ia Passion in 1548 for the production of mystery plays, on which it held the monopoly in the capital. These were soon banned, and the Confrerie profited from its premises by renting them out to the companies of actors newly circulating in France following the end of the Wars of Religion. Since its monopoly was interpreted as applying to all theatrical activity in the capital, troupes performing elsewhere, in an empty jeu de paume for example, were heavily fined. This was the situation until the 163os, when, gradually, two more or less permanent troupes were established in the capital, one at the Hotel de Bourgogne and the other in a jeu de paume in the Marais district, called simply the Theatre du Marais. It was with these that the Illustre Theatre had to compete.
