Theatre companies : the peculiarities of a real arlequin game[Compagnies théâtrales : les particularités d'un vrai jeu d'Arlequin]

This text is a new edition of an article written in 2002. Among other things, it allows to ponder about questions that have already been strongly addressed and yet remained unresolved at the end of the past century, as well as on their permanence or their particular variation one or two decades later. The article proposes a deeper understanding of how professional theatre companies operate in France. Its focus is on low and medium-profile companies, which are a vital breeding ground for the development of the performing arts. It is based on the in-depth study of nine contrasting companies, with 1999 as the reference year. A questionnaire was handed over to one of the leaders of each of these organizations. It was built on more than one hundred and fifty proposals referring to the current vulgate of the relations between art and society. The process completed the more factual case studies. Beyond the singularity of each situation, a comparative analysis reveals a set of regular elements, but also clear differences between the values underlying the artistic project and the way in which they materialize in the activity or the organization of the companies. The question of the artistic project that is rather self-centered or more directly related to given populations and territories is a central differentiation marker between companies, even if an interactionist approach of the art prevails over more pronounced postures about contemporary art. This diversity of postures is to be found at the level of the modes of action, which colours the way of producing and distributing shows along with the forms of cultural action or training associated with them. The salience of both the historical territory of implantation and the location of the partners appears as a constant feature. Similarly, there is an almost exclusive collaboration with public or parapublic organizations, although the relations to them may be diverse and contrasted. Depending on these partnerships, the companies' business model remain very fragile, between seeking a continuity of action and a flexible management of their staff. Their status is constantly associative but is then used only as the legal support within reach ; yet it does not provide in itself relevant solutions for a rather highly complex management. The limits of the case corpus and of the questionnaire may weaken some of the features of similarity and differentiation that have emerged. They nevertheless appear in phase with previous researches while opening them to other types of interrogation.