ABSTRACT
The first permanent circus amphitheatre in Paris was opened by Philip Astley on 16 October 1783.1 This involved a ring 20 metres in diameter, surrounded by two tiers of boxes and illuminated by some 2,000 lamps. Astley’s company appeared there each year for the winter season, when they were not able to perform in London. Even at this stage the entertainment went beyond merely equestrian feats and involved acrobats and other performers. Nicolet of the Grands Danseurs complained that Astley was trespassing in the area assigned to his company, and the police
reminded Astley that his licence limited him to displays of horsemanship. Astley’s response was to build a stage mounted on the backs of a number of horses and to have his acrobats perform on top of this equestrian bridge. This ingenious idea is typical of the expedients that fairground theatres had to resort to in the eighteenth century, and for much of the nineteenth century, because of the restrictive nature of theatre licensing. From 1783 Astley’s establishment in Paris was joined by an expatriate Italian, Antonio Franconi. Franconi supposedly left the Venice region following a duel in which he had killed a young nobleman. He moved to Lyon, where he became a keeper in a menagerie and attempted animal-training until he was badly bitten by a lion, after which he became a bird-trainer and travelled around France.2 He became Astley’s associate and was responsible for keeping the establishment open when Astley was in England. In 1793 he took over the building which Astley had been forced to abandon. For a time he too had to flee Paris, but returned in 1795 and re-opened the circus. During the next few years, together with his sons Henri and Laurent and their troupe of trained horses, he appeared at various theatres, most notably at the Théâtre de la Cité, where horses were integrated into the spectacular pantomimes of Cuvelier de Trie and others and where, arguably, the equestrian drama was born. In 1802 Philip Astley returned to Paris and attempted to reclaim his amphitheatre, so the Franconis leased ground in the former Couvent des Capucines, a more fashionable area than the faubourg du Temple. This lasted only until 1806, when it was demolished to make way for the rue Napoléon (rue de la Paix). The Franconis opened their new establishment, this time in the rue du Mont Thabor, on 28 December 1807. This was the first Cirque Olympique (the title possibly taken from Astley’s Olympic Pavilion, which had opened in London the previous year), though the name Cirque Franconi persisted virtually until the 1830s. It is not clear why this establishment was tolerated. It escaped classification as a secondary theatre, according to the terms of the 1807 decree, despite some of the quasi-dramatic entertainments that it provided. To the official mind it probably counted as a rather large ‘petit spectacle’. Napoleon saw it as a healthy establishment leading to the development of martial skills and horsemanship. However, from the start a dramatic intention was evident in the architecture of the building since it included a large scenic stage as well as a ring.3 In addition to its more strictly
equestrian exercises, the Cirque Olympique was permitted to produce both pantomimes and ‘petites pièces’. The ring itself was large enough to allow thirty-six horses to perform at the one time, and the stage was generously proportioned, being seven wings deep with a large apron. The opening pantomime, La Lanterne de Diogène, paid a fulsome compliment to Napoleon, and henceforth, for the next half century, the Cirque would devote the greater part of its efforts to the creation and development of the Napoleonic legend. With the end of the Empire the Cirque began to lose its popular following. Its location, near the fashionable Chaussée d’Antin and the Tuileries, was also a disadvantage.
