Théâtre du Gymnase, on boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle since 1820

The Théâtre du Gymnase on boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle opened on 23 October 1820. Lugan de La Rozerie wanted a stage where young actors from the Conservatoire could practise on repertoire pieces cut down to a single act. Auguste Rougevin and Louis-Régnier de Guerchy built it, and a prologue by Eugène Scribe opened the first evening.

Delestre-Poirson installed gas lighting in 1823; under the patronage of the Duchesse de Berry the theatre became the Théâtre de Madame in 1824 and signed an exclusive contract with Scribe. Under Montigny, from 1844, Balzac, George Sand and both Dumas were performed, and Labiche premiered Le Voyage de monsieur Perrichon in 1860.

Henry Bernstein ran it from 1926 and staged his best-known plays there. Pagnol, Guitry and Félicien Marceau followed; Peter Brook directed Jean Genet’s Le Balcon in 1960. The tragedienne Marie Bell took over in 1962, played Phèdre there and kept it until her death in 1985; the house has borne her name ever since.

Listed as a historic monument since 1994, the theatre seats 800, with the Studio Marie-Bell and the Petit-Gymnase alongside. Jean-Marc Dumontet bought it in 2026. It stands in the 10th arrondissement, on the Grands Boulevards.