French Revolution, European Drama

Abstract

The French Revolution and the rule of Napoleon transformed Europe and its inhabitants, and theatre narrated the life and afterlife of these changes in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The revolutionary period includes the 1780s, the decade before the French monarchy fell, as well as 1789 to 1799, when rebellion and war dominated European politics; the Napoleonic era, 1799 to 1815; and the July Revolution of 1830, culminating in the crowning of Louis‐Philippe (1773–1850) as constitutional monarch. Theatre sometimes documented the memorable events of the Revolution. A controlling aristocracy, a corrupt clergy, and an oppressive environment that silenced free speech led to the end of the Old Order (ancien régime) . These issues lent themselves well to the stage when and if authorities allowed their expression.