Theatre History Studies

In the early part of the nineteenth century, the intrepid theatregoer searching for the most impressive venues, actors, and performances would have sought out not New York or Boston but New Orleans, or so argues Juliane Braun in her fine new work Creole Drama: Theatre and Society in Antebellum New Orleans. Throughout the study of early Francophone theatre in New Orleans, Braun not only draws our attention to the city as a major theatrical site in early American history but also makes significant contributions to our understanding of the transnational nature of theatre in colonial spaces. With extensive archival research, Braun’s book succeeds in opening new avenues of inquiry into Creole studies, antebellum history, transnational theatre studies (particularly in relationship to colonization), and Francophone culture in the United States.

Braun’s well-organized book utilizes five chapters to engage her central argument that theatrical stages were essential to the negotiation of Francophone identity within the antebellum period. Her argument is compelling: theatre was crucial both in maintaining French language and culture in New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase and in serving as a critical space for the exchange of ideas in the wake of the growing size and political power of the new Anglophone population within the city. Enriching this is Braun’s constant attention to the transnational nature of the antebellum theatre. She demonstrates well how French, American, and Caribbean exchanges influenced the city’s theatrical culture, forcing competition, rivalry, and engagement with foreign affairs, and always with a clear interest in navigating the changing nature of culture and [End Page 270] power within this period of shifting political leadership and attendant group power dynamics.

The book is organized thematically, although it is largely chronologically sequential, as well. Chapter 1 details the rise of the Francophone theatre in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Particularly important here is the work Braun does to explore the divergent ideas of “Creole” and “American,” two terms that will be continually reinterpreted across the decades before the Civil War. In examining how the early French theatre was built largely by importing French plays and actors, to help perpetuate not only French sensibilities but also colonial authority, Braun quickly establishes how the theatre is a crucial site for manufacturing cultural identity. Often, theatre owners, audiences, and practitioners came to New Orleans from other French Caribbean colonies, and shared language and religious bonds helped incorporate them into developing Creole identities. This Creole identity becomes the cornerstone of chapter 2, where Braun turns to the influx of Americans into the city. Exploring the rise of competing Anglophone stages, the chapter examines how the theatres fought over not only audiences but also cultural hegemony within the changing political order of New Orleans. The reader is presented with three plays (one in English, two in French), each of which reinterprets the same episode of Louisiana history wherein, after the Spanish take over the city, local French leaders resisted the new government and were ultimately tried and executed for rebellion. Unsurprisingly, the Anglophone treatment devalorizes the Frenchmen, whereas the French productions caution against collaboration with rival political powers (with the historical Spanish figures standing in for the contemporary American population).

The third chapter is a major addition to the history of early black theatre in the United States thanks to Braun’s outstanding research into these underexamined companies. In addition to the rich analysis of the social and physical living environments for free black people in the city, Braun demonstrates the deterioration of civil freedoms for free black people within New Orleans in the decades leading up to the Civil War. This is shown through detailed examination of theatre layouts, seating, and attendance, which greatly enhances our understanding of the importance of free black people and the enslaved to the culture and entertainment economy of the city. Further, Braun’s sharp analysis of a variety of plays that are both imported from France and speak to ongoing...