caa a22 4500 386384088 CHVBK 20180307112053.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130s1989 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0307883300008968 doi S0307883300008968 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0307883300008968 Hemmings F. W. J. Applause for the Wrong Reasons: The Use of Applications for Political Purposes in Paris Theatres, 1780-1830 [Elektronische Daten] [F. W. J. Hemmings] John Moore, the Glasgow physician and friend of Tobias Smollett, after attending a few performances at the Théâtre-Fran¸ais during a visit to the French capital in 1779, commented as follows on the surprisingly subversive behaviour of the Parisian parterre at that date: ‘By the emphatic applause they bestow on particular passages of the pieces represented at the theatre, they convey to the monarch the sentiments of the nation respecting the measures of his government.' Moore gives no precise instances, but it is clear what he is referring to, and there were plenty of other contemporary observers to testify to the growing habit of making applications, and using this method to express opposition to certain government policies which, in the prevalent atmosphere of political repression, it might have been dangerous to contest too openly anywhere else. The theatre auditorium was the ideal place for voicing anonymous criticism with impunity. The guard in the theatre, entrusted with the task of preserving law and order, was powerless to prevent the parterre applying a maxim or simple phrase spoken from the stage to some matter of burning political import, and showing, by their vociferous applause, where exactly their sympathies lay. Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 1989 Theatre Research International Cambridge University Press 14/3(1989), 256-270 0307-8833 14:3<256 1989 14 TRI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0307883300008968 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0307883300008968 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Hemmings F. W. J. NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Theatre Research International Cambridge University Press 14/3(1989), 256-270 0307-8833 14:3<256 1989 14 TRI CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge