Réguler la nouveauté en protégeant les traditions? La réglementation des « spectacles de curiosité » de la fin de l’Ancien Régime à la fin du Premier Empire

Unlike for the established theatres, much less scholarly attention has been paid to spectacles de curiosité, which cover an enormous field from “imitations of dramatic scenes” and experiments to displays of monkeys. “Spectacles de curiosité” were not strictly “theatre” ; this article shows that the boundaries of what was considered “théâtre” and “spectacles” could move significantly, pushed by both the state and the performers, over the momentous decades from the end of the Ancien Régime to the First Empire. This reveals not only the moving frontiers of such terms, but how contemporaries sought to circumvent them or borrow from the other domain to enrich their own, revealing the porosity of performance despite stricter legislation, on paper at least.