Café de la Gare
Address | 41, rue du Temple, 4th Paris France |
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Coordinates | 48°51′27″N 2°21′09″E / 48.8573719°N 2.3524656°E |
Type | dinner theatre |
Capacity | 450 |
Opened | 1968 |
Website | |
www.cdlg.org/w/ |
The Café de la Gare is a dinner theater located at 41, rue du Temple in the
History
When it was founded, the Cafe de la Gare was called a "dinner theater", a vague term which at the time, applied mainly to a tax category. However, it was never a coffee house, and there were never any tables or chairs, only benches for about 180 people, surrounding the three sides of a stage eight meters wide and five meters deep.[1]
From the beginning the theatre was dedicated to mockery and farce. When the patrons arrived they had to draw lots determine the price of their seats. Once seated they were entitled to a drink and a cushion which the actors frequently threw in their face. Even the slogan of the theatre was brash: "It's ugly, it's dirty, it's going to happen" (C'est moche, c'est sale, c'est dans le vent.)
A remarkable number of the founding members of the Café de la Gare went on to become famous. These include Romain Bouteille, Sotha, Coluche, Patrick Dewaere, Henri Guybet, and Miou-Miou.[3] At one time or another the company included Gérard Lanvin, Gérard Depardieu,[4] Renaud, Thierry Lhermitte, Diane Kurys, Coline Serreau, Josiane Balasko, Anémone, and Gérard Jugnot. Even the patrons of the cafe became famous; among the regulars over the years were Georges Moustaki, Raymond Devos, Jean Ferrat, Jacques Brel, Pierre Perret, and Jean Yanne.[5]
References
- ^ a b Café de la Gare at theatreonline.com, (in French)
- ^ "Café de la Gare, TimeOut Paris". Archived from the original on 2010-05-04. Retrieved 2011-04-28.
- ^ Coluche dead in a motorcycle accident Coluche dead in a motorcycle accident, Le Monde, June 19, 2006
- ^ Gérard Depardieu at IMDb
- L'Express, August 15, 2002, (in French)
External links
- Official website
- Dewaere, Coluche, and Bouteille of the Café de la Gare, Video, August 28, 2010