Ancienne Comédie

English translation

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History

It was around 1765 that the first theatre of Toulon was built, a rectangular hall with four levels of galleries. It appears that only a few years later, a vestibule and the sculptured portal on the rue de la Comédie were added in front of the hall, known today under the name "Fantaisies toulonnaises". Inconvenient and little frequented, the Théâtre de la Comédie nevertheless welcomed personalities such as Talma, Rachel or the composer Offenbach. From 1810 onwards, a larger construction was planned. The levelling of the ramparts around 1850 made its realisation possible: in 1862, the Grand Théâtre de Toulon was inaugurated, the old Comédie was decommissioned. Of the auditorium proper, bombed during the Second World War, nothing remains. The only vestiges of the theatre are its two portals and a staircase which led to the apartments of the management. The old vestibule is occupied by a shop. The most remarkable element is the sculptured portal on the old rue de la Comédie (rue Denfert-Rochereau). At the centre of the entablature, a cartouche bears the inscription "Fantaisies toulonnaises", a late designation of the theatre; above it, a medallion decorated with a shell, a child's head and cornucopiae; on either side of the medallion, a group of attributes of Music and Comedy, difficult to identify. Among the few monumental entrances subsisting in Toulon, this one presents, because of its programme, original decoration, sole witness to the town's first theatre.