The Théâtre du peuple is a theater located in Bussang

Bussang

Bussang is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France....

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, built in 1895 by Maurice Pottecher.

The theatre was added to the list of historical monuments in 1975 and is always in activity, putting on a new performance each year. Performances take place on every Sunday of July and August.

The Théâtre du peuple is constructed entirely of wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

 and can seat up to 1,200 people.

The Théâtre du peuple was the first people's theatre to be established in France after the Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. Originally it was an open-air theatre, in which Pottecher staged folk and morality play

Morality play

The morality play is a genre of Medieval and early Tudor theatrical entertainment. In their own time, these plays were known as "interludes", a broader term given to dramas with or without a moral theme. Morality plays are a type of allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of...

s, often performed by locals in dialect. Its low costs, low ticket prices and the offer of a free performance per season proved a successful formula for Sunday-afternoon theatre. Pottecher used his success as a platform to launch a people's theatre campaign (soon taken up by Nobel-prize winner Romain Rolland

Romain Rolland

Romain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...

). The proscenium arch

Proscenium

A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...

 of the theatre bore the motto "Through Art for Humanity". Pottecher worked at the Théâtre du Peuple until his death in 1960, after which members of his family continued the tradition. Its current director is Pierre Guillois.

External links

• Official website (in French)