Abstract
This chapter offers new evidence of the strength of French peripheries against the centre during the Third Republic. In contrast to the fragility of state-led initiatives, popular theatre flourished in the provinces, whether associated with local folklore, Catholic mystery plays, or patriotic neo-Classicism. Here, new light is shed on the Breton plays and productions of Anatole Le Braz and Joseph Le Bayon; the operas, plays, and poetry staged at the Roman amphitheatre of Orange; the folkloric endeavours of Maurice Pottecher in the Vosges; and the populist efforts of Pierre Corneille Saint-Marc in Poitou. At the same time, the chapter reveals unexpected tensions in the relationship between nation and region: regionalist playwrights who preferred to live in Paris, for example, as well as stridently regionalist productions that were vitally dependent on Parisian support.
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Wardhaugh, J. (2017). Folk Art, Faith, and Nationalism: Popular Theatre in the Provinces. In: Popular Theatre and Political Utopia in France, 1870—1940. Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59855-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59855-4_3
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59854-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59855-4
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