Clare Finburgh Delijani is the recipient of a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2023–26) and is one of the leading specialists in theatre and performance from the French-speaking world. She is currently writing a history of postcolonial theatre in France from the 1950s to the present day. Christian Biet was professor of theatre and performance at Paris Nanterre University, and visiting professor at New York University. Beginning his career as a specialist in the seventeenth-century French golden age, he diversified into areas including performance studies and theatre from East Asia.

• Introduction Clare Finburgh Delijani; 1. The performing arts in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century France: the making of theatre Marie Bouhaïk-Gironès and Estelle Doudet; 2. Drama during the wars of religion: a contextual approach Charlotte Bouteille and Tiphaine Karsenti; 3. Drama before standardization: the theatre of blood Christian Biet; 4. Neoclassical tragedy: listening to women John D. Lyons; 5. Molière, a man of the stage? Martial Poirson; 6. Theatres as economic concerns: Molière, the Hôtel Guénégaud and the Comédie-Française Jan Clarke; 7. Seventeenth-century printed theatre: gender and peritext Derval Conroy; 8. Non-official eighteenth-century stages: censorship, subversion and entertainment Guy Spielmann; 9. The expanded theatre of the French revolution Sanja Perovic; 10. Nineteenth-century melodrama, vaudeville and entertainment: the vitality and richness of a marginalized theatre Roxane Martin; 11. New approaches to women actors and celebrity in nineteenth-century France Clare Siviter and Emmanuela Wroth; 12. Extended romanticism in the extended nineteenth century Florence Naugrette; 13. Poetry in action, 1945–1968: from Antonin Artaud to Lettrism and the Domaine Poétique Cristina De Simone; 14. Performance and installation art: re-turning to Artaud through Christian Boltanski Carl Lavery and Rezvan Zandieh; 15. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century theatre directing: perception at play Christophe Triau; 16. Political theatre in France (1954–2020): The Brechtian ordinate Olivier Neveux; 17. Liberating third world theatre: Serreau, Kateb, Césaire, and Genet Joanne Brueton; 18. Francophone theatre-makers in France: Traumatizing the French stage Judith G. Miller; 19. Migration in modern and contemporary playwriting: uprooting and rerouting Clare Finburgh Delijani; 20. An interview with Éric Ruf Clare Siviter; 21. An interview with Magali Mougel Chris Campbell; 22. An interview with Phia Ménard Estel Baudou.

'A New History of Theatre in France is an exciting book that brings fresh insight and ranges from the fifteenth century to the present time. Unlike previous histories of French theatre, Finburgh Delijani's collection both highlights the central part theatre has played in French culture over the centuries and updates the specificities and interconnections between different periods and geographical locations that make up the French theatrical landscape.' Osita Okagbue, Professor of Theatre and Performance, Goldsmiths, University of London

Clare Finburgh Delijani is the recipient of a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2023–26) and is one of the leading specialists in theatre and performance from the French-speaking world. She is currently writing a history of postcolonial theatre in France from the 1950s to the present day. Christian Biet was professor of theatre and performance at Paris Nanterre University, and visiting professor at New York University. Beginning his career as a specialist in the seventeenth-century French golden age, he diversified into areas including performance studies and theatre from East Asia.

• Introduction Clare Finburgh Delijani; 1. The performing arts in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century France: the making of theatre Marie Bouhaïk-Gironès and Estelle Doudet; 2. Drama during the wars of religion: a contextual approach Charlotte Bouteille and Tiphaine Karsenti; 3. Drama before standardization: the theatre of blood Christian Biet; 4. Neoclassical tragedy: listening to women John D. Lyons; 5. Molière, a man of the stage? Martial Poirson; 6. Theatres as economic concerns: Molière, the Hôtel Guénégaud and the Comédie-Française Jan Clarke; 7. Seventeenth-century printed theatre: gender and peritext Derval Conroy; 8. Non-official eighteenth-century stages: censorship, subversion and entertainment Guy Spielmann; 9. The expanded theatre of the French revolution Sanja Perovic; 10. Nineteenth-century melodrama, vaudeville and entertainment: the vitality and richness of a marginalized theatre Roxane Martin; 11. New approaches to women actors and celebrity in nineteenth-century France Clare Siviter and Emmanuela Wroth; 12. Extended romanticism in the extended nineteenth century Florence Naugrette; 13. Poetry in action, 1945–1968: from Antonin Artaud to Lettrism and the Domaine Poétique Cristina De Simone; 14. Performance and installation art: re-turning to Artaud through Christian Boltanski Carl Lavery and Rezvan Zandieh; 15. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century theatre directing: perception at play Christophe Triau; 16. Political theatre in France (1954–2020): The Brechtian ordinate Olivier Neveux; 17. Liberating third world theatre: Serreau, Kateb, Césaire, and Genet Joanne Brueton; 18. Francophone theatre-makers in France: Traumatizing the French stage Judith G. Miller; 19. Migration in modern and contemporary playwriting: uprooting and rerouting Clare Finburgh Delijani; 20. An interview with Éric Ruf Clare Siviter; 21. An interview with Magali Mougel Chris Campbell; 22. An interview with Phia Ménard Estel Baudou.

'A New History of Theatre in France is an exciting book that brings fresh insight and ranges from the fifteenth century to the present time. Unlike previous histories of French theatre, Finburgh Delijani's collection both highlights the central part theatre has played in French culture over the centuries and updates the specificities and interconnections between different periods and geographical locations that make up the French theatrical landscape.' Osita Okagbue, Professor of Theatre and Performance, Goldsmiths, University of London

Clare Finburgh Delijani is the recipient of a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2023–26) and is one of the leading specialists in theatre and performance from the French-speaking world. She is currently writing a history of postcolonial theatre in France from the 1950s to the present day. Christian Biet was professor of theatre and performance at Paris Nanterre University, and visiting professor at New York University. Beginning his career as a specialist in the seventeenth-century French golden age, he diversified into areas including performance studies and theatre from East Asia.

• Introduction Clare Finburgh Delijani; 1. The performing arts in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century France: the making of theatre Marie Bouhaïk-Gironès and Estelle Doudet; 2. Drama during the wars of religion: a contextual approach Charlotte Bouteille and Tiphaine Karsenti; 3. Drama before standardization: the theatre of blood Christian Biet; 4. Neoclassical tragedy: listening to women John D. Lyons; 5. Molière, a man of the stage? Martial Poirson; 6. Theatres as economic concerns: Molière, the Hôtel Guénégaud and the Comédie-Française Jan Clarke; 7. Seventeenth-century printed theatre: gender and peritext Derval Conroy; 8. Non-official eighteenth-century stages: censorship, subversion and entertainment Guy Spielmann; 9. The expanded theatre of the French revolution Sanja Perovic; 10. Nineteenth-century melodrama, vaudeville and entertainment: the vitality and richness of a marginalized theatre Roxane Martin; 11. New approaches to women actors and celebrity in nineteenth-century France Clare Siviter and Emmanuela Wroth; 12. Extended romanticism in the extended nineteenth century Florence Naugrette; 13. Poetry in action, 1945–1968: from Antonin Artaud to Lettrism and the Domaine Poétique Cristina De Simone; 14. Performance and installation art: re-turning to Artaud through Christian Boltanski Carl Lavery and Rezvan Zandieh; 15. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century theatre directing: perception at play Christophe Triau; 16. Political theatre in France (1954–2020): The Brechtian ordinate Olivier Neveux; 17. Liberating third world theatre: Serreau, Kateb, Césaire, and Genet Joanne Brueton; 18. Francophone theatre-makers in France: Traumatizing the French stage Judith G. Miller; 19. Migration in modern and contemporary playwriting: uprooting and rerouting Clare Finburgh Delijani; 20. An interview with Éric Ruf Clare Siviter; 21. An interview with Magali Mougel Chris Campbell; 22. An interview with Phia Ménard Estel Baudou.

'A New History of Theatre in France is an exciting book that brings fresh insight and ranges from the fifteenth century to the present time. Unlike previous histories of French theatre, Finburgh Delijani's collection both highlights the central part theatre has played in French culture over the centuries and updates the specificities and interconnections between different periods and geographical locations that make up the French theatrical landscape.' Osita Okagbue, Professor of Theatre and Performance, Goldsmiths, University of London