Théâtre des Funambules

The Théâtre des Funambules ( frz. / Lat. "Theatre of the tightrope walker " ) was a historic theater on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris, which existed from 1816 to 1862.

The theater, built of wood was with at least 500 seats at the beginning of one of the smallest in the series of Boulevard Theatre on Paris's Boulevard du Temple. It stood on the east side and joined directly to the Théâtre de la Gaîté. In the year of the opening in 1816 of the acrobat Philippe Deburau was committed with his family to the theater. The theater was a crier front of the house, but does not allow language on stage. So it had to be limited to the presentation of art pieces and pantomimes. The famous actor Frédérick Lemaître melodrama performed in this theater in its early years.

The critic Jules Janin discovered the theater in the 1830s, when, after the battle of Hernani French romanticism had triumphed and a reorientation of the Parisian theater world took place in the rough and Folk was estimated to be particularly poetic. Thus Philippe Deburaus son Jean- Gaspard Deburau, who was not particularly gifted as an acrobat, with Janin's support as melancholy Pierrot essential to a world-famous performer of pantomime.

Like the rest of the theater on the north side of the street, the building was demolished in 1862 as part of the reorganization of the Boulevards and the Place de la République. For the film Children of Paradise ( 1943-45 ) by Marcel Carné the Théâtre des Funambules was - as well as the whole stretch of road - reconstructed.