Madeleine de Pouget, stage name Mademoiselle Beauchateau (1611–1683), was a French stage actress.

According to an anecdote, she was the natural child of “a demoiselle of good family and a magistrate.” She was married to the actor Francois Chastelet, stage name Beauchateau.

Mademoiselle Beauchateau

In 1628 the Grands Comediens (Comédiens du Roi) was established at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. Initially, only the male actors are named, but in 1630 three actresses are mentioned: Nicole Gassot (Mlle Bellerose), Madeleine de Pouget (Mlle Beauchateau) and Jeanne Buffequin (Mlle La Fleur). She was engaged at the Théâtre du Marais in 1634. She was a prominent actress of the theatre. She created the role of the Infante in Pierre Corneille’s Le Cid.

Mademoiselle Beauchateau

According to Paul Scarron, she wrote the prose version of François Tristan l'Hermite’s Les Coups de l’Amour et de la Fortune, which was finished by Scarron. According to Tallemant, she instructed a noblewoman in how to recite verses.

Mademoiselle Beauchateau

She was described as a wit by Raymond Poisson: said of her as “she is as witty as the devil”, and while Donneau de Vise said of her wit that if he were to speak of it, he would have to “remain a long time on such a rich and vast matter.”

References

1611 births

1683 deaths

17th-century French actresses

French stage actresses

17th-century French writers

17th-century French women writers