Parterre (theater audience)

The word parterre comes from the French par and terre and literally translated means “on the ground.” Originally, the term was used in the 16th century to refer to a formal ornamental garden, but by the mid-17th century, it was increasingly used to refer both to the ground level of a theatre where spectators stood to watch performances and to the group of spectators who occupied that space.

Although the word parterre originated in France, historians use the term interchangeably with its English equivalent, “the pit,” to designate the same part of the audience in England, present-day Italy, and Austria. While parterre audiences differed in social status, size, inclusion of women, and seating arrangements, they shared the characteristic of being noisy, often boisterous, interactive audiences.

Today, historians are divided over whether or not parterre audiences deliberately challenged political authority, what role they played in constructing public opinion, and if they contributed to the formation of a public sphere in early modern Europe.

It is impossible to categorize parterre audiences as belonging exclusively to one social class, but historians agree that cheaper parterre tickets drew a proportionately higher number of lower-level professionals and commercial labourers, such as artisans, students, journalists, and lawyers, to the pit. However, the occupation, wealth, sex, and social standing of parterre spectators differed depending on geographical location.

Historians studying theater audiences in France have traditionally identified the parterre as the exclusive domain of lower-class males, with the exception of female prostitutes. More recently, scholars such as Jeffrey Ravel argue that parterre audiences were more socially heterogeneous than previously believed. For one, spectators who sat in the more expensive loges (balcony boxes) were free to meander into the parterre as they wished, and it was fashionable for younger well-off men to stand in the parterre. As well, despite restrictions against women entering the parterre, cross-dressing was not uncommon.

England's parterre audiences differed from France because of the relatively high number of elites and “fashionable women” who socialized in the pit. Historian Jennifer Hall-Witt provides several possible explanations for the unique character of England's parterre. In English theaters some bench seats were available to parterre spectators, while theatergoers who could not find seats socialized in wide corridors known as fop-allies that ran down the sides and centre of the benches. Also in England, unlike in France or Austria, parterre tickets were not the cheapest; a galley ticket was less than the average half-guinea price of a parterre seat in a London theater. Ultimately, the pit in England was more socially respectable than elsewhere in Europe.

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