Théâtre des Nations

Théâtre des Nations, international festival of drama founded under the auspices of UNESCO, which began in 1954 when a number of foreign companies were invited to perform in Paris at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, now the Théâtre de la Ville. The festival was officially established in 1955, and from 1957 to 1965 a two-month season of foreign plays was organized annually by the manager of the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, with state and municipal support. During this period some 50 countries were represented by about 150 companies with 180 plays and 150 other entertainments, and the festival played an important part in bringing groups such as the Berliner Ensemble, the RSC, the Piccolo Teatro della Città di Milano, the Living Theatre, and the Peking Opera to the attention of Parisians, and indeed to European audiences in general, since the prestige and publicity of their Paris season brought the companies invitations to visit other festivals. In 1966 Barrault took over the organization of the festival and transferred it to the Odéon, which he was then managing. He was in the process of giving it a firmer international basis when the 1968 riots caused his own dismissal from state employment. After that the Théâtre des Nations led a sporadic and vestigial existence, until in 1973 the International Theatre Institute, which had been instrumental in founding it, agreed to its becoming a peripatetic event.