Hamlet’s First Appearance on the French Stage: Jean-François Ducis and François-René Molé. 1769

Abstract

This article examines an historical performance in the era of the maturity of the French Enlightenment: the first stage incarnation of the tragedy of Hamlet. Using materials on the history of French theatre in the 18th and early 19th centuries that are not translated into Russian, and research by Russian and foreign scholars in the 20th century. The author discusses the history of the dramatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, by Jean-François Ducis, a follower of Voltaire, in the context of rising interest in Shakespeare in French culture in the second half of the 18th century. A key aspect of this analysis is Duсis’s relationship with the actors of the Comédie-Française, François René Molé, and Marie Dumesnil as the play was prepared. The “Hamlet” of 1769 showed not only the influence of Voltaire’s tragedies, but also the influence of the “medium genre” tradition, supported by D. Diderot. This is revealed in the interpretation of Hamlet’s role by the actor Molé and in the general stage concept of the tragedy. Ducis’ “Hamlet” is significant not as a literary work, but also as a theatrical text that underwent multiple revisions, as a work of art with a moving structure. The question is raised of the further fate of the tragedy on the French stage and of the interpretation of this “Hamlet” by F. J. Talma.