Théâtre de la Huchette, a theatre on rue de la Huchette since 1948

The Théâtre de la Huchette, a small house at 23 rue de la Huchette in the Latin Quarter, was founded in 1948 by Georges Vitaly, on the site of a restaurant owned by Charles Aznavour’s father. It opened on 26 April with Valentino Bompiani’s Albertina, directed by André Reybaz.

Vitaly introduced Georges Schehadé and Jacques Audiberti. From 1952 Marcel Pinard staged Genet, Lorca, Tardieu and Ionesco. On 16 February 1957 Eugène Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano and The Lesson returned here in their original productions. The two plays have never left the bill since.

When Marcel Pinard died in 1975, the actors of the Ionesco plays formed a company to take over the theatre. It received an honorary Molière in 2000 and passed 18,000 performances in 2017. Since 2016 Franck Desmedt has run it and added musical shows.

The two plays hold the world record for the longest unbroken run in a single theatre. Each evening a third play completes the bill. The company of 45 actors tours the world; the theatre stands in the 5th arrondissement, beside the Caveau de la Huchette.