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In:Romeo and Juliet in European Culture
Edited by Juan F. Cerdá, Dirk Delabastita and Keith Gregor
[Shakespeare in European Culture 1] 2017
► pp. 77–100

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Chapter 4
Romeo and Juliet on the French stage

From the early versions to the English production at the Odéon Theatre in 1827

 | Université de Caen
Published online: 14 December 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.1.05sch
Abstract
Eighteenth-century France did not get to see Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. However, the basic plot was familiar through two contradictory influences: Boccaccio’s happy-ending Filocolo (cf. the lost play of Chevalier de Chastellux, successfully performed at Château de la Chevrette for an elite society in 1770, and Comte de Ségur’s opera in 1793), and Bandello’s tragic novella after Dante’s Purgatory (cf. a drama by d’Ozicourt, obviously a nom-de-plume, published in 1771). In 1772 Jean-François Ducis presented his version of Romeo and Juliet, the first to be indebted to Shakespeare, albeit through Pierre-Antoine de La Place’s patchy summary. It had a long run at the Comédie-Française, but saw few performances until 1827, the year Harriet Smithson successfully took the part of Juliet at the Odéon to Charles Kemble’s Roméo, announcing Romanticism on stage.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Diverging early versions
  • The beginnings of Romanticism
  • The English season
  • Notes
  • References
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