In her book Les Pièces rivales des répertoires de l'Hôtel de Bourgogne, du Théâtre du Marais et de l'Illustre Théâtre, Sandrine Blondet examines the commercial and artistic rivalry between Parisian theatrical companies in the seventeenth century. More precisely, she studies the plays specifically written and produced to challenge the successful works of a rival troupe. These plays constitute what Blondet calls “le corpus concurrentiel” (“the competitive corpus”), which, according to her research, could comprise up to forty-one pairs of rival dramas. Her 750-page study, however, covers multiple aspects of the rivalry, putting into perspective not only the competition between the plays themselves, but also the duels between actors and playwrights.

In the first part of the book, Blondet defines what she considers to be the main characteristics of the rivalry. Her first chapter, based on the classical works of H. C. Lancaster, S. W. Dierkauf-Holsboer, and A. Howe, presents the three permanent Parisian troupes of the time (their actors, their positions in the theatrical field, and the main stakes of their rivalries). The second chapter explains which plays can, in the context of the new commercial competition, be considered real “doublons dramatiques” (“competing plays”) and which cannot, even if they do seem, at first sight, to be engaged in a symbolic rivalry. Blondet bases her analysis on criteria such as the title, the subject, the genre, and the date of creation of the plays. The second part of the book, as Blondet writes herself, “replace les pièces rivales dans le cadre général de la production contemporaine, contextualisation fondée sur une typologie des thèmes et des procédés dramatiques pris comme enjeux de rivalité” (“replaces the competing plays in the framework of the contemporaneous theatrical production, while considering the themes and dramatic techniques as the stakes of the rivalry” [17]). In other words, she shows, in the next four chapters, how the competing plays are built upon some of the main dramatic themes of the seventeenth century, and how the dynamics within the corpus concurrentiel are an example of the workings of the whole theatrical field. Finally, in the third part of the book, “Les effets de la concurrence dramatique” (“The impacts of theatrical rivalry”), Blondet examines how the rivalry affected the form of the plays and the staging of the performances. Her final three chapters thus explore in great detail the changes in almost every formal aspect of the plays, from the dispositio to the stage directions.

Les Pièces rivales des répertoires de l'Hôtel de Bourgogne, du Théâtre du Marais et de l'Illustre Théâtre is a near-exhaustive work, in which scholars will find a lot of useful information. Blondet has a thorough knowledge of her sources and she cleverly puts them into perspective, both in the book and in the twelve detailed annexes. However, since some of the sources are incomplete, her hypotheses, mostly when it comes to the dates of first performances, are often conjectures. Blondet's goal, as she admits, is not to determine an exact chronology of the plays, but rather to invalidate incorrect historical information that critics have, until now, taken for undeniable facts. Although it is a commendable objective, her explanations often lead to unnecessarily long and tedious pages, ending on conclusions like: “Il reste donc impossible, selon nous, de determiner avec certitude quelle troupe créa avant l'autre son propre Saint Genest” (“It is impossible, according to our research, to determine which troupe created its Saint Genest first” [228]). Except for those lengthy passages of a dubious usefulness, the book is a must read for any researcher studying seventeenth-century theater, as it sheds new light on the episode commonly known as “la guerre des théâtres” (“the war between theaters”).