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Le ‘Romain’ au théâtre des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles: naissance d'un type comique

French. This article examines an overlooked topic: the way in which the “Grands Comédiens” from the Comédie-Française were represented in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century theatre and how fairground theatres imitated them, creating a new comic and ludicrous character on stage: the ‘Roman’. Based on primary sources, it gives a history of performances arising from the rivalry between popular and high-culture modes/troupes. It discusses how marketing considerations meet professional and aesthetic ones. The conclusion is that popular theatre benefited from a deft and focused satire campaign by creating a theatrical figure that evokes both high and low culture simultaneously.