1. French society, commercial culture, and the emergence of modern theatre : Andre Antoine and the Theatre Libre -- 2. The politics of preventive censorship -- 3. Expressions of modernity -- 4. Foreign playwrights, French critics, and avant-garde theatres -- 5. The popular theatre movement -- 6. Le theatre du peuple : modern theatre, regionalism, and the search for the authentic in fin-de-siecle France