Au seuil de l'interdiction: Le théâtre calviniste

The Reformation did not forbid the theatre. If some interdictions are pronounced, and some refusals expressed, suspicion for entertainment concerned with passion is general. For all expression considered artistic, theological, professional or personal decisions marked immediate discredit, which soon became traditional. Calvin tolerates educational spectacles if they have no relation to religion or politics. Professional actors, in discredit, are discarded. The reformed Church forwarded the ill name of the profession, morally condemned exhibitionism for lucrative aims. To go to the theatre meant loss of money and of time, time to be devoted to the sacred. Nevertheless, in spite of these restrictions, the Protestant theatre was promoted, proving that the official distrust did not inhibit the taste for the theatre. On the contrary, Protestantism shows numerous important theatrical productions.