Western theatre
At the beginning of the 20th century, France was the international centre for innovation in the visual arts, but such was not the case with the theatre. In Paris theatres were dominated by wealthy patrons eager for the farces of Georges Feydeau and the boulevard tradition of well-made plays about sexual adventure and adultery. However, when the reaction against realism did come, it had more lasting results in France than it did elsewhere, possibly because there it centred on efforts to dignify the art of the actor rather than to exploit or devalue it. The reaction was initiated by the literary critic Jacques Copeau, who in 1913 set up his own company, the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier. Although Copeau was influenced by the naturalistic acting style that Antoine had demanded, he disliked realistic theatre; yet, he also had an aversion to artificiality. Like Reinhardt, he sought to break down the barrier between the actor and the audience. His stage did away with the front curtain (for the first time on the modern French stage), and it extended out from the proscenium arch to surround the audience on three sides. Decor was used sparingly; the atmosphere ... (200 of 33,621 words)Avant-garde in France