Théâtre des Vampires
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Théâtre des Vampires is the home of a Parisian Vampire Coven from the earlier books in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series, specifically Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat.
[edit] Details
Interview with the Vampire gives little detail about the history of Théâtre des Vampires, but from what we can tell in the first book, it is a theatre that mocks the existence of mortals. The vampire actors perform plays that utilize their vampiric traits, strength, movement etc. and even drink blood in front of their audiences. Due to the nature of the establishment, the audience leave the production still believing what they have seen to be an act.
In Interview with the Vampire, we meet Armand, the owner and Patriarch of the theater, and we learn a little bit about him, and his past with Lestat de Lioncourt, although very little in comparison to what is revealed in the next book.
In the next book, The Vampire Lestat, we learn a lot more about this theater. Before his death, Lestat was an actor at the Theatre in its previous form. Once he is turned, he purchased it because of its director's insistence. The theatre remains with its regular human actors and director, until Lestat finds a satanic cult of vampires in Paris, under the cemetery of Les Innocents, and challenges their beliefs destroying the sect. He closed the Theatre and sent the crew to England as to protect them. 4 of the vampires that ran away from the sect beg him to give them the Théâtre so as to hide from their leader, Armand, who is destroying all of the coven's members because of the mass desperation Lestat caused, as it would endanger their privacity. They make an agreement with Armand so as he stays in the Theatre as an actor, or if he wishes so as the director. Before they make the agreement, Nicholas de Lenfent, an old friend who had moved to Paris with him, demands Lestat to give the Theatre to him, but Lestat refuses. This was mostly due to the fact that he is driven mad shortly after becoming a vampire. Still, he stays in the Theatre as a writer and musician, and is actually the one that baptizes it as "Théâtre des Vampires". Lestat then gives the ownership and funds to Eleni, one of the ex-members of the coven. After this we see Lestat returning from America after living with Louis and Claudia, and he discovers all the troupe he had left in Paris (the ex-members of the coven) has disappeared and Armand owns the Theatre. He (Armand) continues to reside in the Theatre, along with a changing troupe of vampires until it is burnt down by Louis de Pointe du Lac in vengeance for killing Claudia (vampire).
According to an interview, Anne Rice claimed that when she wrote the book, she had no idea that there actually was a theatre in Paris called Theatre of Vampires.
[edit] Role in Interview with The Vampire
The first presentation as presented is where an attractive woman is being stripped naked against her will, placed out of logic and murdered via drinking her blood. In the film, she was acted by Laure Marsac. Unlike in the novels where the mortal woman after being drank off her blood was simply placed away, here she seems to be eaten up by the vampires in a bizarre human sacrifice.
[edit] Influence
Théâtre des Vampires may have been influenced by the memory of the Grand Guignol, although on the Interview with the Vampire DVD, on the making of, Anne says that she had no knowledge of the Grand Guignol.
Théâtre des Vampires are a Vampire Metal band. [1]
