Soleil, Théâtre du

Soleil, Théâtre du, French workers' co-operative drama group, formed in Paris in 1964 under the direction of Ariane Mnouchkine (1934– ), whose long association with it made her one of France's foremost theatrical figures. Their first productions, not particularly successful, established their method of work—months of rehearsal, participation of all the actors on the technical side, and experiments with various levels of illusion and acting conventions. The company became famous in 1967 with a production of Wesker's The Kitchen in the disused Cirque Medrano, and in 1969 produced, by Collective Creation, a play of their own entitled Les Clowns, which was followed by 1789 (1970), a view of the French Revolution through ordinary people's eyes, and 1793 (1972). In 1972, being homeless, they were offered cheaply, by the town council of Paris, the lease of a shed in the abandoned Cartoucherie de Vincennes, a former army training ground and ammunition dump where in 1975 they staged L'Âge d'or. Their presence attracted a large audience of supporters of popular theatre, and adjacent sheds soon housed other experimental companies. In 1979 the company staged Mnouchkine's own adaptation of Klaus Mann's Mephisto. They then turned to Shakespeare with productions of Richard II and Twelfth Night in 1982 (the latter originating at Avignon) and Henry IV, Part One in 1984. All three productions showed the influence of oriental theatre, which was again apparent in two epic plays by Hélène Cixous: Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia (1986), about contemporary Cambodia, and The India of Their Dreams (1987).