ABSTRACT
The long French eighteenth century is generally considered to be the least magical of historical moments. The composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier set a Thomas Corneille livret in 1693, and in 1694 there appeared Longepierre's tragedy, Médée. Scholars have strained to understand Medea's arts and meanings in the context of political tumult and its immediate aftermath. The Directory audience in the Feydeau was by all accounts capricious and unruly; and the theatre was specifically a centre for counter-revolutionary sentiment. The subject of Medea, then, is of so little interest to the Directory audience that it is simply omitted from its usual place in the press reviews. However, the actress who interprets Medea is a locus of keen concern and an attractor of the audience's fear. Medea in her becomes a woman, not a subject or theme, which, apart from the opportunities for spectacle it presents, had lost interest for audiences of the day.
