Jean-Louis BARRAULT. Autograph manuscript signed "JLB", À propos de Maguelone, [April 1951]; 4pages in-4 with a few erasures and corrections. Response to critics of Maurice Clavel's play, and defense of a new theater. Text published in Le Figaro on April 16, 1951. Barrault replies to Jean-Jacques Gautier, who had violently attacked Maurice Clavel's Maguelone, premiered by Barrault on April 5, 1951, at the Théâtre Marigny, to complement the program of André Gide's Œdipe directed by Jean Vilar. Gautier wondered what could have prompted Barrault to present Maguelone. Barrault claims "the right to make mistakes [...] We want to be able to make mistakes, to make passionate mistakes. In the theater, error activates circulation. In mounting Maguelone, we wanted to show young theater poets that our doors were open to them; that we could still be their accomplices". And he traces Clavel's career, who represents "the drama of today's youth". He sees Maguelone "as a historical symbol; it is the soul of our rediscovered national faith [...] an attempt at modern lyrical theater treated on a high plane, through the Real and the symbol, in the purest tradition of our classical theater. [...] For our humble part, Maguelone was a kind of "commando" through which we were convinced we were working for Clavel and for the young poets who dream of a noble theater"...