Le “Privilège de la parodie”: la censure politique dans quatre vaudevilles de Bayard, Kock, Labiche et Royer

This article explores the link between parody and politics in four vaudeville plays from the period between July 1850 and Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s coup d’État of 1851: Le Jour et la Nuit by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, La Maison du Carrousel ou l’Hôtel de Nantes by Henry de Kock, Martial, ou le Vol à la fleur d’orange by Jean-François Bayard and Antoine-François Varner, and Un chapeau de paille d’Italie by Eugène Labiche and Marc-Michel. Known for its comedy based on surprises and misunderstandings, vaudeville relied on the active participation of the audience for much of its humor. For this reason, censors paid special attention to this type of play. At the same time, they gave more latitude to authors because they took into account the specific needs of comic theater. The techniques authors used to create comic effects often allowed them to add political comments to their plays, which the censors sometimes overlooked. (In French)