The Theatre > History

R.BALDICK : "Charles-Jean Harel, the least scrupulous rogue in the entire history of theatre... was always short of money, with his creditors constantly after him, pursuing him even onto the stage where he sometimes had to escape their clutches by slipping through the trap in the stage floor."

Charles-Jean Harel supported the actors and was a fervent defender of the "new school" throughout the three years spent presiding over the Odéon and the theatre at the Porte Saint-Martin. Not one of Victor Hugo's major plays was premiered at the Odéon, but all were later performed there with great success.

During the days known as the "Trois Glorieuses", the theatre was the focal point of the insurrection by a revolutionary youth movement. "Right now, beneath the Molière archways, a group of armed men has moved in; and by the corner of the theatre, a student from the polytechnic school standing on a cart is handling the barrels of gunpowder."  Alexandre Dumas