New book: Stagestruck: The Business of Theater in Eighteenth-Century France and Its Colonies, by Lauren R. Clay ’94 (Cornell University Press)
Opening lines: “‘Never has talent been so rare among us,’ complained theater director, dramatist, and talent scout Charles-Simon Favart. Writing from Paris in the early 1760s, Favart maintained that all of France was facing an acute shortage of able and experienced actors, actresses, and singers for hire. ‘We are beating the drum to find them,’ he observed, ‘and if our capital, which is their usual rendezvous, lacks them today, one cannot hope to find them elsewhere.’ Favart, who corresponded widely with performers and auditioned talent in provincial cities as well as in Paris, understood France’s changing talent market well. … Demand for qualified personnel exceeded supply and the reason was clear. ‘Each provincial city wants to have a troupe,’ he explained, ‘and they recruit all the way to our [Paris] boulevards.’”
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