Théâtre de l'Œuvre

Théâtre de l'Œuvre

Salle Berlioz
Théâtre de l'Œuvre c. 2010
Address	55 rue de Clichy, 9° arrondissement Paris France
Coordinates	48°52′51″N 2°19′43″E / 48.880961°N 2.3285°E / 48.880961; 2.3285
Operator	Gérard Maro
Type	theatre
Capacity	326
Opened	1893

The Théâtre de l'Œuvre is a Paris theatre, located atop cité Monthiers, at 55 rue de Clichy in the 9° arrondissement in Paris, France. It is best known as the theatre where Alfred Jarry’s nihilistic farce Ubu Roi premiered in 1896.

Founded in Paris in 1893, the Théâtre de l'Œuvre was among the first theatrical venues in France to provide a home for the artists of the Symbolist Movement at the end of the nineteenth century. Modeled on the experimental structure of the Théâtre Libre, the venue was directed by Lugné-Poe, a prominent Parisian actor and stage manager from its opening through 1929.

Lugné-Poe had embraced symbolism's "subjectivity, spirituality, and mysterious internal and external forces" as a source of profound truth after working as an actor at the Théâtre d'Art. The first of the independent Symbolist theatre, the poet Paul Fort, then just seventeen years old, formed the company to explore the performance potential of found texts such as The Iliad, The Bible, and his own lyric verse. When Fort left the group in 1892, his work was carried on by what would become the Théâtre de l'Œuvre with Lugné-Poe at the helm.

Unlike Fort's project which catered to the intellectual elite, Lugné-Poe sought to create a "theatre for the people," and customarily offered free tickets to most of the public, reserving only 100 seats for his subscription holders. Under his direction, the company first performed Maurice Maeterlinck's Pelléas et Mélisande on May 17, 1892. According to theatre historian Oscar Brockett:

With the help of poet and critic Camille Mauclair and the painter Édouard Vuillard (with whom Lugné-Poe was sharing an apartment), the director dedicated the theatre to presenting the work of the young French Symbolist playwrights in addition to introducing new foreign dramas. The group established themselves that same year, renting a small room atop the cité Monthiers called the salle Berlioz and calling themselves Maison de l'Œuvre, or literally, the "House of Works."