Theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne

Hôtel de Bourgogne was the name of a former theatre, built in 1548 for the first authorized theatre troupe in Paris, the Confrérie de la Passion. It was located on the rue Mauconseil (now the rue Étienne Marcel in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris), on a site that had been part of the residence of the Dukes of Burgundy (the former Hôtel de Bourgogne). The most important French theatre until the 1630s, it continued to be used until 1783.

The Confrérie performed farce and secular dramas, but lacking great success, began renting the theatre to itinerant acting companies, including Italian commedia dell'arte troupes, who introduced the characters Harlequin and Pantalone, as well as burlesque. In 1628, a French company, the Comédiens du Roi, became permanently established and performed many of the classics of French theatre, including Andromaque and Phèdre by Jean Racine.

In 1680, the Comédiens du Roi moved to the Guénégaud Theatre, merging with that theatre's resident French troupe (descendants of the troupe of Molière and the troupe from the Théâtre du Marais) to form the Comédie-Française. The Guénégaud's company of Italian actors moved to the now unoccupied Hôtel de Bourgogne and became known as the Comédie-Italienne. The Comédie-Italienne gradually began to perform plays in French, merged with the Opéra Comique of the Théâtre de la Foire in 1762, and moved to the Salle Favart in 1783, after which the theatre at the Hôtel de Bourgogne permanently closed.

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