proves even more astounding. However, the convent plays still followed the Aristotelian unities of time, place and action: the events occur within less than one day (in almost they are all set in one general locality, they have few subplots, the servants play the wise yet comic roles whilst the middle to upper class characters are more serious and all drama is resolved at the end. We can therefore conclude that whilst revolutionary in terms of breaking taboo and inspiring a new style of theatre; the setting in literature was by no means original at the time of the Revolution; and the plays retained several fundamentally traditional elements. Convent Theatre and Revolutionary Ideology Culture during the French Revolution generally became increasingly politicized therefore we must look at the ways in which convent theatre reflected revolutionary politics. The theatre became a means by which actors, writers and producers could their ‘vouchsafe revolutionary credentials,’ especially during the Terror. In terms of the plays’ content, it would be difficult to argue, however, that was decidedly Les Dragons et les Benedictines more radical than Hyslop explains that this lack of radicalisation was Les Victimes Cloitrées. not limited to convent theatre. Even during the Terror, the theatre was in tone… if ‘moderate one wished bloodshed and revenge against and priests, one could go to the Place ci-devants de la Révolution or watch the victims of the guillotine’. We also should consider that whilst we have the dates when the plays were first performed, we do not know when exactly they were written (with the exception of first submitted in 1790 but only les Visitandines: accepted in 1792). The theatre was revolutionary because it became accessible to people who had attended before 1789. was often performed for free, Les Victimes cloitrées et pour le ‘“par Furthermore, the theatre became a tool for educating audiences on the Revolution peuple”’. and its ideology, particularly as illiteracy remained widespread. As Maslan puts it, ‘the
proves even more astounding. However, the convent plays still followed the Aristotelian unities of time, place and action: the events occur within less than one day (in almost they are all set in one general locality, they have few subplots, the servants play the wise yet comic roles whilst the middle to upper class characters are more serious and all drama is resolved at the end. We can therefore conclude that whilst revolutionary in terms of breaking taboo and inspiring a new style of theatre; the setting in literature was by no means original at the time of the Revolution; and the plays retained several fundamentally traditional elements. Convent Theatre and Revolutionary Ideology Culture during the French Revolution generally became increasingly politicized therefore we must look at the ways in which convent theatre reflected revolutionary politics. The theatre became a means by which actors, writers and producers could ‘vouchsafe their revolutionary credentials,’ especially during the Terror. In terms of the plays’ content, it would be difficult to argue, however, that Les Dragons et les Benedictines was decidedly more radical than Les Victimes Cloitrées. Hyslop explains that this lack of radicalisation was not limited to convent theatre. Even during the Terror, the theatre was ‘moderate in tone… if one wished bloodshed and revenge against ci-devants and priests, one could go to the Place de la Révolution or watch the victims of the guillotine’. We also should consider that whilst we have the dates when the plays were first performed, we do not know when exactly they were written (with the exception of les Visitandines: first submitted in 1790 but only accepted in 1792). The theatre was revolutionary because it became accessible to people who had attended before 1789. Les Victimes cloitrées was often performed for free, ‘“par et pour le peuple”’. Furthermore, the theatre became a tool for educating audiences on the Revolution and its ideology, particularly as illiteracy remained widespread. As Maslan puts it, ‘the
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