Théâtre de la Ville, on place du Châtelet since 1862

The Théâtre de la Ville on place du Châtelet opened in 1862 for the Théâtre-Lyrique company, forced off the boulevard du Temple. Gabriel Davioud built it between 1860 and 1862 for Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann, to the same plan as the Théâtre du Châtelet opposite.

Under Léon Carvalho it premiered Les Pêcheurs de perles and Les Troyens à Carthage in 1863, Mireille in 1864 and Roméo et Juliette in 1867. Burned during the Commune in 1871 and rebuilt in 1874, the hall was leased in 1898 to Sarah Bernhardt, who played there from 1899 and gave it her name. Charles Dullin premiered Sartre’s Les Mouches there in 1943.

From 1954 the Paris drama festival welcomed Bertolt Brecht and Giorgio Strehler’s Piccolo Teatro there. In 1967 and 1968 the interior was entirely rebuilt with tiered seating, and the hall became the Théâtre de la Ville. From 1985 Gérard Violette gave contemporary dance a central place.

Reopened in 2023 after seven years of works, the theatre has taken back the name of Sarah Bernhardt. In the 4th arrondissement, it presents around a hundred productions a year, dance, theatre, world music and chamber music, with a second venue in the Abbesses.