Molière, the star entrepreneur of Louis XIV<

In Paris, rue Molière, the statue of the playwright does not really evoke a start-upper.Meditative, the author of the Misanthrope is seated in a thoughtful and philosopher of great man.However, for his contemporaries, Molière is anything but that.Under wise bronze and motionless marble, hides one of the most disruptive entrepreneurs in our history.400 years after the birth of Molière, this is an opportunity to rethink the link between arts and economic constraints: despite the national legend, the Molière theater was not made 'despite' commercial issues, butwith them.

The great century is an age of entrepreneurs [1].Louis XIV and Colbert promote personal initiative, measured risk taking and financial success, even if money remains the great repressed.What about literature?Since the invention of printing at least, the book is a risk taking, the investment of a publisher in a product, in search of customers and customers.If, for the authors, the objective is ultimately to reach a position and to a recognition, the marked growth of the public, its diversification, and the multiplication of implaing works in small format allows them to hope for successesimportant that will also provide money and visibility.

This increasingly nervous market gives birth to techniques and issues that are those of modern marketing: we segment the audiences and we position and reposition the works.Advertising, advanced commercial techniques, everything is already present and influences not only the packaging, but also the content: we make shorter chapters;We choose titles and hooks that have a chance to differentiate the work on the shelves of the bookseller.The authors work like brands, successful titles too.It takes advertising, buzz, for a work to be seen.

The theater in the 17th century: a real business

It is however the theater which, more than any other field of literature, constitutes a real business.Beyond the aesthetic and moral issues of the pieces, these are designed above all to succeed.If Molière writes the Misanthrope, the Bourgeois Gentilhomme or the imaginary patient, it is because these subjects allow him to grasp the trends and recent events.

Thus the Bourgeois Gentilhomme exploits the fascination for the foreigner and depicts the recent visit of the Turkish ambassador to France;The imaginary patient is a barely veiled criticism of religion as well as a play of royal propaganda;The Misanthrope is an All-Star which connects a flirtatious and a prude, ridiculous marquis and a patent misanthropic, etc.

You have to understand that, to plan and create a show, a troop makes sometimes massive investments.A great spectacle as a psyche, played by Molière's troop in 1671, mobilizes dozens of trades and hundreds of thousands of tournament books (a book equal 20 sous of the time).

In terms of risk and investment, if you have to compare the great shows of the 17th century to something, it is rather to Hollywood blockbusters than to the imagination of wooden trestles.And if a room does not work, we get rid of it.Thus, the troops are done and break up like so many small businesses circulating on French territory.Some actors and actresses acquire the status of superstar, are represented in engravings or in contemporary novels and, depending on the occasions, pass from one troop to another, as football clubs buy stars.

Since the opening of the Marais Théâtre in 1634, the Parisian theater market has been an oligopoly, made up of some permanent troops.Each room plays pieces of all kinds, but each theater has its niche: the Hôtel de Bourgogne specializes in tragedies, the marsh in the machines from 1645, the Molière troop will be in the comedy.There are still many itinerant troops that go through the capital before leaving to play in the provinces.All shots are allowed.Thus, when a troop rises a new piece, the rival troop hastens to offer another with the same title.

The illustrious theater, Molière's first company

It is in this context of effervescence that Madeleine Béjart seems.Cittle of the literate circles of the capital, capable of dancing, singing, composing verses, she embarks on a new troop, with among her members, a young first from the wealthy bourgeoisie: Jean-Baptiste Poquelin.This first company is called the illustrious theater, founded on June 30, 1643 by an association contract.

The objective is to climb to the level of competing troops, which requires significant investments.We must transform a palm game room into a theater, ancestor of our tennis courts.We also need a repertoire: we buy costly exclusives from stars of the time.Nothing better than a novelty to attract the public!But after a year, the illustrious theater loses its audience, crumbled under the debts, can no longer reimburse its creditors, and finally finds itself dissolved - Molière even spends two small nights in prison and must borrow from his father forget out of it.

The troop leaves in the provinces, to make a name for itself by playing with adults like the count of Aubijoux or the prince of Conti, cousin of the king.Sets and costumes are transported by specialized companies.Madeleine, Molière and the others travel like stars, far from our imagination of academic academic.In 1658, after more than ten years spent playing in front of the big ones, the troop made a name and a reputation.She returns to Paris protected by a powerful patron, the king's brother.But nothing helps, the recipes are gloomy and a new bankruptcy threatens the troop.

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— Soul ZERØ 心 Thu Apr 09 21:16:21 +0000 2020

Genius

It was then that Molière has a stroke of genius: to shake up the world of theater by offering a little comedy in tune with the times.The precious ridiculous tells the story of two young provincials who dream of Parisian novels and glory, to the point of becoming ridiculous.Pitch is only a pretext: the goal is to align jokes on the latest literary and social modes.

Disruptive, this piece is in several respects.The title, first of all: Molière skillfully chooses this expression of "precious".Like the word woke today, this term has generated a negative buzz around female claims in relation to the right to education since 1653.Molière, for or against?Probably neither: the interest is that the word is trendy.

Disruptive, the play is also because it stages all the news of time.We parody the bestsellers of the moment, in particular the great novels of Madeleine and Georges de Scudéry.We also evoke the poetry of the time, closer to the dynamism of pop music than Ronsard, or even rival troops.Finally, Molière borrows his comic from Italian actors.A game based as much on the virtuosity of the body as of the text, which Molière, interpreting the main role, continues to use throughout the room.

Success is absolutely extraordinary.In a few evenings, the troop's recipes reach new levels, the share of quadruple actors.Contemporary publishers hastened to bet on the triumph: Jean Ribou, newcomer to the book market, sends one of his minions to take the piece in note and publish it, in the nose and to the beard of Molière.This one, as well as the great Parisian publishers, seize justice and obtained success.They print the precious ridiculous, with the benefits that follow.

The creation of the "Molière brand"

Molière's troop is now established.In the following years, to repeat the triumph of precious ridiculous, Molière innovates this time in advertising with the Women's School.The title, which does not correspond at all to the content of the room, is explained by a range effect, a commercial mechanism running in the 17th century: after having created the Maris School the previous year, Molière created the reverse,The Women's School - Whatever the bottle ...

Despite the quality of the room, the recipes drop quickly.What could be better when a good scandal to relaunch the case?In his news, Data De Visé publishes a first scandal biography of Molière.In his letter in weekly verse, a very followed press organ, Loret suggests that the piece arouses a sling.Molière orchestra himself this scandal: bad buzz is always buzz ...

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He thus creates the criticism of the Women's School, a comedy in an act in which various ridiculous emit grotesque criticisms against the play: a Marquen does not like the play because it is too conventional, a prudeOffices of the Grivois jokes, a pedantic author finds that the play does not follow Aristotle enough, etc.Opposite, characters from honest men and women respond with common sense to these remarks, with, in particular, a fundamental sentence to understand the literature of the 17th century: "I would like to know if the great rule of all the rules isno please ”.

The troop's recipes fly away again.As with the precious ridiculous, contemporaries are rushing into this new market: tap, Donneau, Boursault, so many names forgotten today, write pieces in responses to the criticism of the Women's School, which molley, theStage, discuss it.A real battle that benefits everyone, and especially to Molière.

Correct morals and castigate hypocrites

But the process has its limits.Thus the first version of Tartuffe created in 1664 goes too far.Molière must then review his communication.It modifies the part to dilute anti-religious criticism.He especially invents the famous 'moral' goal of his theater: correct manners and castigate hypocrites, he tells us.

In reality, the play has never been conceived for this, only to laugh and taunt a certain religion, but the coup de com 'makes its theater unstopable.Who would not want to castigate hypocrites?The result is remarkable: the long -awaited first of the Tartuffe of 1669 generates the best turnover of Molière's career.

Molière has become a brand.After the Women's School, any part signed Molière causes a unique craze.As for Louis XIV, he does not fail to understand the interest of having such a visible actor in his pocket.If he gratifies it with 1000 pounds annual, he also subsidizes the troop up to 6000 pounds.This acquisition of the theatrical company by the power also marks the beginning of propagandist inserts in the pieces: outraged praise, disguised advertising, etc.Molière takes advantage of the visibility of his theater to broadcast a royal message.

This brand value is still what makes Molière today: ask the theater troops What are the plays that best fill their room?The entrepreneur of Louis XIV competes with those of Hugo, Shakespeare or Cervantes.It is not "despite" the business issues that Molière made the right theater.On the contrary, it is precisely because he knew how to grasp the taste and contemporary trends, the opportunities, and that his genius allowed him to do wonders, that he gave us the masterpiecesthat we still appreciate today.

The Atlas Molière, by Clara Dealberto, Jules Grandin and Christophe Schuwey, Les Arènes, 272 pages.

[1] Christophe Schuwey, a letters entrepreneur in the 17th century, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2020;Hélène Cromé, Entrepreneurs, company: History of an idea [1982], Paris, Classics Garnier, 2011.