The éâ(, literally, Theatre of the Comic-Ambiguity), a former Parisian theatre, was founded in 1769 on the boulevard du Temple immediately adjacent to the Théâtre de Nicolet. It was rebuilt in 1770 and 1786, but in 1827 was destroyed by fire. A new, larger theatre with a capacity of 2,000 as compared to the earlier 1,250 was built nearby on the boulevard Saint-Martin at its intersection with the rue de Bondy and opened the following year. The theatre was eventually demolished in 1966.
History of the first theatre in the boulevard du Temple
It was founded in 1769 on the boulevard du Temple, originally known as the Promenades des Ramparts, in Paris by Nicolas-Médard Audinot, formerly a comedian of the Opéra-Comique, which he had left to become a puppet-master at the Paris fairs. Audinot had already been a success in one of the sites of the Saint-Germain Fair, where his large marionettes (called "bamboches") were in vogue.
Under the name of his foundation, the "Comédiens de bois", the Opéra-Comique proposed pantomimes and "féeries" (spectacles), then he enlarged his repertoire to include marionettes, child-performers, and acrobats, in comedies, vaudeville shows, "opéras comiques", dramas and pantomimes.
The variety and mix of these theatrical modes justified and explained changing the theatre's name, after only one year, from "Comédiens de bois" to "Ambigu-Comique" when Audinot substituted child-performers for marionettes. Audinot also used wooden puppets to spitefully reenact his former colleagues from the Comédie Italienne. Audinot saved the profits he made from shows and constructed a permanent theatre building on the Boulevard du Temple, which officially opened on July 9, 1769. The following April, Audinot added to his puppets with a few young children, who he trained up in the theatrical arts, and painted the motto "Sicut infantes audi nos" on the theatre's curtain. His success caused Delille to write "Dear Audinot, childhood attired as old age".
The architectural success of the theatre was mostly due to the ambitious and inventive set designer, Louis Daguerre. Daguerre, who is also credited with developing early photography and diorama theatre (1822), was an expert in scenic and lighting design and created picturesque effects within the theatre.
A Conseil decision of 1771 (demanded by the Opéra) banned singing, dancing, and having more than four musicians aroused such emotion that it was revoked only a few days later, and Audinot took full advantage of the situation. Judging, in 1772, that the time was right to extend the building, he gave up puppetry altogether, replacing them entirely with child-performers. Not entirely released from the ties which had brought about his rise in the large theatres, from 1780 he had to pay the Opéra a fee for representation and to engage him but not use him, in producing ballets and lyric pieces borrowed for that scene, whose shows had at least ten years of publicity. The Comédie-Française and the Comédie-Italienne stipulated, for their part, that dialogue pieces in the repertoire would be submitted to them before being played, so they could edit and change them to their own advantage.
Despite these problems and burdens, the Ambigu was able to rebuild and enlarge its theatre in 1786. Audinot sustained the fashion for "pantomimes historiques and "pantomimes romanesques" such as "Belle au bois dormant", "Masque de fer", "Forêt-Noire", and "Capitaine Cook". The Ambigu's success was equally down to the "comédies graveleuses" written by its official writers Plainchesne and Moline. Bachaumont even noted in 1771 that Audinot's theatre was better attended than the Opéra.