Le Tombeau des imposteurs (The Impostors’ Tomb) is one of the few plays with puppets published during the French Revolution. Léonard Bourdon – a politician and revolutionary – collaborated with Plancher-Valcour and Pierre-Louis Moline – two playwrights for the theatre and the opera. Together, they wrote this “dramatic Sansculottide”. The text is introduced by a “dedicatory epistle” to the Pope Pius VI condemning the Church’s wealth as well as the abuses committed by the Clergy, which is guilty of “rapes, assassinations, poisonings and even more atrocious crimes”.

Le Tombeau des imposteurs was published in 1793 – four years after the storming of the Bastille by revolutionaries (the “Sans-culottes”) and a year after the beginning of the First Republic. During the years 1793 and 1794, a shift occurred in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the State – these are the years of “dechristianisation” , during which many religious buildings were closed, and properties of the Church were destroyed or seized. These events are directly mentioned in the text.

However, the play was also affected by the revolutionaries’ hesitations on this matter. In December 1793, the Committee of Public Safety, “that wished to enforce the order made on 16 Frimaire, by the National Convention, in order to preserve peace and freedom of worship”, banned the performances given at the Opera, on the grounds that “the accompaniments and the choirs did their utmost to ridicule” the representation of Mass (Le Républicain français, 29 Decembre 1793).

In this three-act comic opera, the puppeteer Brioché (named “Charlatan” in the cast of characters) cooperates with a Chansonnier (Singer) and makes the puppets sing anticlerical and revolutionary verses.

The character Brioché is a reference to the Datelin dynasty, which, under the stage name Brioché, were the most famous puppeteers in Paris for five generations, especially during the 17th century. One of their protagonists was Polichinelle. He is also shown here. However, no puppeteer called Brioché is known during the revolutionary period.

The first act is set in a church, where a group of Dévotes (pious persons) and a group of Sans-culottes (revolutionaries during the French Revolution) confront each other. The revolutionaries want to punish Parisian priests for their abuses and their crimes. As for the Dévotes and the priests, they are impatiently expecting a Catholic army to storm through Paris and put an end to the Revolution.

The abbot Blondinet is disguised as a bourgeois and tries to rape Rose, a young girl who manages to escape him. The Sans-culottes want to get rid of the priests. A Magistrat (Magistrate) arrives and seizes the church’s furniture, but Blondinet tells the Dévotes that he managed to hide some of it.

The second act is set just outside the church, on a public square. Blondinet set up a “Temporary Chapel” inside the shop of a Savetier (cobbler), next to that of a Fruitère (fruit merchant). A Chansonnier (Singer) and his wife arrive on the square and the people come closer to listen to their songs. A puppeteer, Brioché, joins them with his wife and performs his play of a “new genre” – La Calotte au tombeau. Together, the puppeteer and the Chansonnier condemn the Church’s abuses with the help of puppets and songs. The Sans-culottes exit the church with a stretcher as they perform a symbolic burial of objects of worship. A child from the choir, Cascaret, denounces Blondinet as a thief. The Sans-culottes take him alongside the Dévotes so they can be judged by the Committee of Public Safety.

The third act is set in a cave in which three see-through paintings are displayed – La Saint Barthélémy, Le Massacre des Cévennes and Les Vêpres Siciliennes. Standing on a pile of bones, Superstition, Célibat (Celibacy) and Fanatisme (Fanaticism) are chained to posts. The action assumes an allegorical form with these three monstrous figures and several other symbols of crimes caused by religious intolerance. Several references are made to Christoph Willibald’s opera – Orpheus and Eurydice.

The Ombre (Shadow) of the revolutionary Marat (murdered in July 1793) is called by the Génie de la France (France’s Genie) who arrives on a cloud. The Ombre rises out of the earth with a bloody shroud around it. The three monsters disappear in a volcano. Instead, a magnificent and luminous temple appears – the Temple of Truth. Liberté (Liberty), Vérité (Truth) and Égalité (Equality) are placed on an altar. The Troup of Sans-culottes also appears and dances with a Magistrate of the people.

The Peuple (the People), Orphelins de la Patrie (Orphans of the homeland), the Députés (Deputies) of the National Convention and the Artisans (Craftsmen) march victoriously. The Convention’s President reads out a speech commending the revolutionaries. An Évêque (Bishop) admits his faults and after making a speech praising Raison (Reason), he burns his priestly vestments. The Orphelins and Orphelines who were harmed by fanaticism sing with defenders of the homeland and do gymnastic exercises. The Citoyens (Citizens) of the first requisition showcase military exercises which draw parallels between scenes from Antiquity and from the Revolution. The play ends on an ode to Vérité (Truth), a mention of the victory over the Austrians and the emigrants, and finally a collective ballet.