Comédie-Française
French national theatre company
The Comédie-Française (French: [kɔmedi fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ), or Théâtre-Français (French: [teɑtʁ(ə) fʁɑ̃sɛ] ), is a state theatre in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is one of the few in the nation and the only to have its own permanent troupe of actors. The company's primary venue is the Salle Richelieu, a part of the Palais-Royal complex located at 2 Rue de Richelieu on Place André-Malraux in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.
The theatre has also been known as the Théâtre de la République, and popularly as "La Maison de Molière" (The House of Molière). It acquired the latter name from the troupe of its best-known playwright, Molière, considered the patron of French actors. He died seven years before his troupe became known as the Comédie-Française, but the company continued to be known as "La Maison de Molière" even after the official change of name.
History
The Comédie-Française was founded on 8 August 1680 by a decree of Louis XIV merging the only two Parisian acting troupes of the time, those of the Guénégaud Theatre and the Hôtel de Bourgogne. On the death of Molière in 1673, the troupe at the Guénégaud had been formed by a merger of the Théâtre du Marais and the Troupe de Molière. Two years later they received a royal grant of 12,000 livres per year; and seven years later they received their present designation.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Comédie-Française” is french national theatre company. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Comédie-Française, French and national, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “french national theatre company” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q61460498. VIAF identifies the subject as 134746571. The Library of Congress control number is n50052276. Authority coordinates are 48.864, 2.336. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1680, 1995 and 1673.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Comédie-Française”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Comédie-Française primary sources, Comédie-Française archive and Comédie-Française research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Comédie-Française”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Comédie-Française” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.