Théâtre de la foire

Théâtre de la foire is the collective name given to the theatre put on at the annual fairs at Saint-Germain and Saint-Laurent (and for a time, at Saint-Ovide) in Paris.

The earliest references to the annual fair date to 1176. The fairground itself was established in 1482 by Louis XI for the benefit of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and was located near the Abbey on the Left Bank southwest of the city center just outside one of the gates of the city wall built by Philip II at the beginning of the 13th century. The covered Saint-Germain market today occupies part of the former fairground site with access from the Boulevard Saint-Germain via the Rue de Montfaucon (satellite view). The fair generally lasted three to five weeks around Easter. During the 18th century it consistently opened on 3 February and lasted until Palm Sunday.

The fair's first actors whose names are recorded were Jehan Courtin and Nicolas Poteau, who so entertained the Parisian public in 1595 that the actors of the Hôtel de Bourgogne filed a suit against them; they probably lost because the two fairground actors returned several years later. In 1618, André Soleil and Isabel Le Gendre met with similar success. Later, marionette manipulators, tightrope walkers and animal trainers so delighted the fair-going public that in 1643, Paul Scarron dedicated a poem on the subject to the Duke of Orléans.

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