A performing monkey

The starting point of this chapter is the hypothesis that the ways monkeys and apes used to be portrayed in theatres may shed light on beliefs about interspecies relationships within broader cultural contexts. The material for the analysis is provided by the nineteenth-century drama Jocko, ou Le Singe du Brésil by Jules Joseph Gabriel de Lurieu in collaboration with Edmond Rochefort and Jean Merle. It was first performed in 1825 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint Martin in Paris, and later in several European countries, including Poland. The analysis focuses on the Polish episode in this play&s;s history, drawing on the Polish translation of the drama and the memoirs of Stanisław Krzesiński, an actor, director, set designer, and provincial troupe manager who played the character of Jocko. The play suggests a connection between humans and wild animals, discarding previous stereotypes associated with apes. The reasons for this approach are embedded mainly in the scientific views of the time, in which the distinctions between humans and monkeys were not always clearly defined.