French theatre is up in arms, accusing the Comedie and culture ministry
which backed the plan of a "hostile takeover", and letters of support for the
Bobigny theatre have come pouring in from across Europe.

   Aghast at the project, the Comedie Francaise's 57 in-house actors signed a text asking their boss to put the plans on hold, while the ministry amended its annex plans to a "partnership" between the theatres.

   But the row highlights a wider debate over France's need to build bridges
with the poor, mainly-immigrant population in towns like Bobigny, where the sense of exclusion erupted into three weeks of youth riots in late 2005.

   Since many housing estate kids feel out of place in the plush, red-carpeted world of the Paris theatre, all agree the arts must be brought to them. The question is what kind of art.

   President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing government - which pushes a
no-nonsense, back to basics cultural policy - believes the MC-93's menu of cutting-edge French and European drama is the wrong diet for the local public, pointing to a slump in audience figures as evidence.

   But the Comedie hopes to fix things with its more mainstream classic
repertoire, spiced up with on-site creations and outreach activities in local
schools and "cites" - high-rise housing estates.

   The Comedie's head Muriel Mayette - who herself lives in Bobigny - also sees a chance to liven up the troupe's stuffy image, and gain access to a huge new 900-seat modern venue, since its main Salle Richelieu and two smaller Paris theatres are creaking at the seams.
 
    'Public finances deep in the red'
 
   The MC-93's director Patrick Sommier says the ministry used misleading
figures to build a case against his theatre, saying the slump in sales came in the wake of the 2005 riots.

   Since the 1960s, his and other state-subsidised Paris suburb theatres have built a reputation as laboratories for risk-taking and innovation, in the same way as New York's off-Broadway scene or the London fringe.

   From the MC-93 to the Theatre Gerard Philipe in Saint Denis, north of
Paris, or the Theatre des Amandiers in Nanterre to the west, they fostered
several generations of young actors and writers from France and across Europe.

   But critics accuse them of elitism, saying the bulk of their audience taxis
out from central Paris every night.

   "These new theatres were set up to reach a new public and to encourage
high-level creation. Ideally they should do both," said Robert Abirached, who was the top theatre official in a Socialist government of the early 1980s.

   With France's public finances deep in the red, subsidised theatres are
under all the more pressure to justify their use to the community.

   "They think we cost too much. No one will say so, but this can only be the
start of a slow dismantling," warned Pascal Rambert, the young director of the Theatre de Gennevilliers northeast of Paris.

   Rambert agrees more needs to be done to win over local suburb youths, "what with competition from the Internet, telephones, videos".

   "It is a mammoth job. People used to complain they couldn't find the theatre, so we teamed up with some local students and we repainted all the road signs to show the way here."

He made all rehearsals open to the public, set up weekly workshops, and linked up with French television to co-produce shows starring a local amateur cast - boosting the number of local theatre-goers by 40 percent.

   "What we do is pretty sophisticated, we are not just here to put on hip-hop shows. But it's incredibly human too. You don't need a doctorate to be able to keep up."

   But he warned that although Gennevilliers puts on regular co-productions with the Comedie Francaise, it was no magic wand for getting out the crowds.

   Meanwhile French theatre professor Emmanual Wallon said he doubted whether the Comedie, whose "soul will remain in Paris", was "best prepared to invent the plays that will revive the Paris suburbs".

photos: Calton Wikipedia - Clicsouris Wikipedia

AFP/expatica 2008

............

If you would like to comment on this topic, you can do so below or in our discussion forums
France: forum.expatica.com/France

(Forums require a personal profile. Sign up here.)