Decorum and the French 18th C. Stage

“When a declaration of love was made on the French stage, the actress turned away her head. The lover spoke to the back of her neck. He does so still. No approach to embracing is allowed.” —Above is an image showing 3/4 profiles. This was part of what was part of the strict theatrical conventions of French Neoclassical drama, which governed the stage during the 17th and 18th centuries. It encompassed the Principle of Bienséance (Decorum), "Three-Quarters" profiles, when actresses turned their heads toward the audience so the crowd could see their facial expressions and hear their voices clearly, and more…

French Stage Propriety

The Francais - perhaps the most corrupt theater in Paris, was the one in which traditions of decorum were best preserved. It was among other theaters as Lord Chesterfield would have been at the court of George II. Lord Chesterfield was an homme d'esprit, and never forgot the decorum which he doubtless learned to value in France. Nor did the Francais.

In respect to high decorum, that theater adhered to the traditions of French society prior to Marie Antoinette and the revolution. Everything was done with propriety and order at the Court of Versailles and in the salons of Paris. In the eighteenth century English, Belgian, Austrian fine gentlemen kissed the tips of ladies' fingers. But in France it would have been thought a liberty to do so. When a declaration of love was made on the French stage, the actress turned away her head. The lover spoke to the back of her neck. He does so still. No approach to embracing is allowed.

The most that can be done is, in a transport of admiration, to blow a kiss to the heroine as she makes her exit. At the other theaters there is the côte du jardin on the right-hand side. At the Francais there is the côte de la cour. The court is supposed to be present in the state box, and actors play to it as in the time of Moliere. I dare say the portraits of the ancestors greatly helped to perpetuate the decorous traditions and this particular fiction. No more than in the Letters of Chesterfield were immoralities, consecrated by courtly examples and social usage, thought any harm. But they must be wrapped up and dealt with in an insidious, subtle manner. Paris Correspondence for London Truth, 1900

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia