Theatre 1884

Theatre 1884

This year Ibsen* begins to make more use of symbolism* in his new play, The Wild Duck*. This shift includes a change in focus as he moves to exploring the individual as isolated and cut off from those around him. He begins his interest in what comes to be called the "life lie". This refers to the individual's need to have a particular belief about himself which may (and usually is) at odds with what others see as the truth.

In New York, the theatre manager, director, playwright, Belasco*, puts on his own play, May Blossom*.

1884 Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary renew their Triple Alliance. In France trade unions are legalized this year.

Russia has completed its expansion south, taking Turkestan, all the Caucasus and a bunch of territory from the Chinese in the East.

In America this year, the railroad finally reaches Seattle (Washington). That French gift of a statue is finished this year and formally presented to the U.S. Minister by

(guess who) Ferdinand de Lesseps*, head of the Franco-American Union. Americans rush to lay the cornerstone for the pedestal to support the lady. They are having a little trouble raising the money to build it.

la belle ‚poque The Banquet Years* and the start of the avant-garde* in France

A quick look at Paris - In May, 1885, shortly after a huge state banquet celebrating his eighty-third birthday, the founder of French romanticism, Victor Hugo,* dies. It signals the end of an era in France. He leaves a will which says: "I give fifty thousand francs to the poor.

I desire to be carried to the cemetery in one of their hearses. I refuse the prayers of all churches. I ask for a prayer from all living souls. I believe in God." His remains lie in state for twenty-four hours on top of an urn which fills the Arc de Triomphe, guarded in half-hour shifts by children dressed in Grecian costumes. The whole of Paris goes wild, with an endless procession across Paris all the next day, ending with the final entombment in the Panth‚non (they specially unconsecrated the church for the event). The whole, fantastic event celebrates the end, for the French, of the romantic movement, Victor Hugo and the nineteenth century.

Paris has just finished a face-lift, open, inviting and very theatrical. In this environment theatre flourishes, legitimate, illegitimate, operatic, boulevard, nice and naughty. The idols of Paris range from the stars of the Comedie-Francaise* to the singers of the caf‚ chantant, from Sarah Bernhardt* to Yvette Guilbert* (1865?-1944, of the white dress, long black gloves, sensual grating voice, singing of crime, cruelty and heartbreak). For the French, the most demanding and formalized stage is still the artistic and political salon where the post- revolution nobility holds court (like Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, Napoleon's niece who continues after 1900 when she is in her eighties). A specialized class of Parisians perform on a wider stage, the world Dumas fils* reveals in his play (1885) Le demi-monde*, the beautiful, cultured, kept woman and her lovers. Fashion influences every aspect of life from women's clothes to the new bicycle. Honor is still as important as in the plays of Corneille and duels are fought with great enthusiasm, spectators and publicity.