Saint-Fal

Saint-Fal, real name Étienne Meynier (or Saint Phal) was a French stage actor born in Paris on 10 June 1752 and died in the same city on 22 November 1835.

Biography

After he participated in an amateur troupe, he integrated that of Mademoiselle Montansier at Versailles, then moved to The Hague where he stayed three years.

He performed in Lyon in 1781, then at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels.

On 8 July 1782, Saint-Fal made his debut at the Comédie-Française in Gaston et Bayard[1] by Belloy. Received as a test on 17 March 1783, he was definitely admitted on 25 March of the following year.

At the time of the French Revolution, Saint-Fal was denounced by La Bussière and thrown into jail.

On his release, he joined Mlle Raucourt at the Théâtre Louvois and then gave the exact measure of his talent. On the night of 2 September 1793, he was arrested again, along with 12 other comedians in the Théâtre Français remained loyal to the monarchy, as "suspects" and imprisoned in the Madelonnettes Convent, for playing a theatrical performance judged seditious: Pamela.[2]

At the fusion of the two troupes of French actors, he took over from his model, actor Molé, and became dean of the Comédie-Française. He retired in 1824, eleven years before he died. He is buried in the 19th division of the Père Lachaise cemetery.

His brother Charles Meynier (1768 - 1832) was a renowned painter.

References
  1. Gaston et Bayard on data.bnf.fr
  2. On 1 August 1793, on the stage of the théâtre de la Nation, Nicolas François de Neufchâteau had a comedy in verses performed: Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, after the novel by Samuel Richardson, imitated from Goldoni. The day of the ninth representation, as the curtain was about to rise, a police officer came in the name of the Committee of Public Safety which forbade the play because of these two verses deemed subversive:
    Ah ! les persécuteurs sont les seuls condamnables. (Ah! the persecutors are the only condemnable)
    Et les plus tolérants sont les seuls raisonnables. (And the most tolerant are the only reasonable)
    Francois de Neufchateau then made the corrections required by the Committee but said committee signed a ministerial order closing the theater and delivered a charge against François de Neufchateau. He was incarcerated, as well as his comédians. Among the 13 actors (actresses were jailed at Sainte-Pélagie Prison) of the Théâtre Français incarcerated at the Madelonnettes Convent, were:

See also
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