La Bodinière

Théâtre La Bodinière

Poster for the exposition by H. Gerbault (12 December 1899 – 12 January 1900)
Théâtre La Bodinière
Address	18 rue Saint-Lazare Paris France
Coordinates	48°52′37″N 2°20′16″E / 48.876873°N 2.337718°E / 48.876873; 2.337718
Operator	Charles Bodinier
Current use	Restaurant
Opened	1890
Closed	1902

The Théâtre La Bodinière was a theater in Paris directed by Charles Bodinier between 1890 and 1902. It staged lectures and performances for a distinguished audience of aristocrats, grand bourgeois and intelligentsia.

Charles Bodinier (1844–1911) was Secretary-General of the Comédie-Française from 1882 to 1889. From 1888 he was director of the Théâtre d'Application, a small theater for students of the Conservatory on rue Saint-Lazare. In 1890 he opened a theater called "La Bodinière", which staged performances until 1902. La Bodinière's audience including members of the Parisian upper class and the intelligentsia.

Starting in 1890, Bodinier began to put on matinées-causeries. Speakers at these events included literary figures such as the poet Maurice Bouchor, the poet and conteur, Paul Armand Silvestre, the writer and critic Ferdinand Brunetière, the poet and novelist Anatole France, the poet and novelist François Coppée, the dramatist Maurice Donnay and the journalist and critic Francisque Sarcey. The historian and feminist Léopold Lacour gave well-attended talks on fashionable subject of feminism. Charles Bodinier invited the poet and dandy Robert de Montesquiou to give a lecture on 17 January 1894, assisted by Sarah Bernhardt. The event attracted an audience that included aristocrats, professors, actors, poets and artists, including Paul Verlaine and the sculptor Édouard Houssin.

La Bodinière had a varied program. The Société Théâtrical with Émile Goudeau staged the play Le Gardénia. Bodinier put on shadow shows such as La Marche au Soleil based on the poem by Léon Durocher with music by Georges Fragerolle. The popular singer Yvette Guilbert was engaged by the theater in January 1891 for five performances where the journalist Hugues Le Roux gave lectures and Guilbert performed. Yvette had huge success with this audience, who would not have wanted to be seen at the more low-brow venues where the singer usually performed. Bodinier staged a series of similar combined lectures and recitals after the success of Guilbert's performance, including Félicia Mallet, the well-known pantomime artist and singer. The poet and playwright Maurice Lefèvre introduced Mallet at these events.