PARIS LETTER
641
covery and renewal. Discovery of new forms, but also of a new public.
As
for this second aspect, whatever had
been
done previously has
merely been maintained: the various provincial dramatic centers con–
tinue to receive their subsidies, which are inadequate, though of course
that is not Andre Malraux's fault. Jean Vilar will remain at the head
of the Theatre National Populaire, whose productions, if they are often
disputable, have at least been able to attract an enormous public to works
of undeniable merit. As for experiment and renewal ...
On
this point,
it must
be
confessed that the Minister has done nothing, even
if
he has
talked a little. He has "given" the Theatre Recamier to Vilar for ex–
perimental plays; he has promised one to Camus. Of course it is odd
that Vilar should be given a theater when he already has one, while
Camus is merely promised one, though he has none. This is because
things have not occurred quite as it seems they have at first glance. The
Theatre Recamier, built by and for Copeau, has been a movie house
for many years. Recently restored to its original function, this theater
does not belong to the State but to a private association, the Ligue de
l'Enseignement, whose purpose is to defend lay instruction. It happens
that the League purchased the building in which, along with the theater
(then a movie house), its offices were located. Several weeks before
Malraux made public his decisions, an agreement was reached between
Vilar and the League which the Minister could only confirm. In pre–
senting it as a decision reached on his own, he was obviously attempting
to strengthen his position, though he merely unbalanced it, since every–
one asked the same question I have already put above: Why should
Vilar have two theaters and Camus only a promise? Furthermore, this
promise is likely not to be kept for some time: first a theater must be
found, and besides, the subsidies allocated for the two "theatres d'essai"
are so minimal that Camus will hesitate to commit himself, even if a
theater is found for him.
As for the decisions made with regard to the two lyric theaters,
they are much less open to dispute. To put M. Julien in control of the
Opera and the Opera Comique is to sanction the success of a man
who has managed, with the Theatre des Nations, to make Paris the
world's greatest international theater center. His artistic advisors are
the worthy Emmanuel Bondeville for music and Roland Petit for the
dance. But special confidence is placed in the new artistic director,
Gabriel Dussurget, who has made the Aix-en-Provence festival the larg–
est and best French festival as well as one of the most important ones
in Europe. I do not know Marcel Lami, who has been appointed to
revive the moribund stage of the Opera Comique.
What are th'e Opera's problems? Some which this reform will not
