The Compagnie des Quinze | The Compagnie des Quinze |
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André Obey, a poet, and Marcelle Gompel, a patron of the arts, joined the group after they had been invited by MSD himself. MSD opened a workshop in Villed’Avray, L’Arche, and he asked André Barsacq to refurbish what used to be the Vieux Colombier. He wanted this “new” place to be used for performances. He thus became the new head of the company in which he also directed most of the shows.  msd en répétition The Compagnie des Quinze then settled for a while at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées and finally got back to the Vieux Colombier. MSD decided it was time for a renewal of the crew and he started training a group of actor-students. He hired three British artists: Susan Salaman, Vera Poliakoff and Marius Goring. They would later play a central role in his British experience. The Compagnie des Quinze did not really have its own theater and they spent most of their time touring, which deepened the financial crisis. MSD then decided to leave Paris with his actors and students. Jean Giono and Darius Milhaud helped the Quinze settle near Aix-en-Provence, in a farm in Beaumanoir, in the autumn of 1934. There, MSD organized trainings and rehearsals and little by little developed a new idea. He intended to spend four months a year looking for new shows and proper ways to develop them. He would organize performances in Aix for four other months and he would spend the last four months on tour in England.  noé à londres In December 1935, the Compagnie des Quinze was officially disbanded.
Read Jane Baldwin’s chapter about the Compagnie des Quinze Jean Villard explains the creation of the Compagnie des Quinze |
MSD was in charge of the “theatre de la petite scène” which was owned by Xavier de Courville. At the same time and from December 1929 onwards, he started reconstituting a company with the people who had worked at the Vieux Colombier and in Pernand Vergelesses. In January 1931, The Compagnie des Quinze was officially created.