RCF3

This project focuses on a little-documented aspect of theatre history: the careers and functions of the Comédiens-Français in the administration and artistic policy of their troupe, from 1680 to 1900. This project is part of the “Programme des Registres de la Comédie-Française”, an international research programme at the crossroads of literary history, drama studies and digital humanities. Following on from previous work on the performances and the economy of the theatrical session, RCF3 aims to shed light on the careers and agentivity of artists using two largely unexplored sets of archives: the casting registers (“registres de feux”), which record the casting and allocation of roles for each session, and the deliberations registers (“registres d’assemblées”), which contain the minutes of the troupe's administrative committees. By placing the actors at the centre of the historical research, the aim is to understand their role not only as performers, but also as creators and decision-makers. The project has three complementary objectives: a technical and scientific objective, to offer an ergonomic exploration and visualisation tool giving access to almost 100,000 pages of archives from France's leading theatrical institution; an educational objective, to train students in digital humanities and contribute to renewing research and training methods in the humanities and social sciences through experiments in research-creation and international co-teaching; finally, a cultural objective: to encourage dialogue between the world of research and that of performing arts practitioners and administrators, by organising events that broaden reflection on issues relating to the history of institutions and the relationship between the State and culture, which remain highly topical.