Marie Antoinette loved to perform. Before becoming the Dauphine of France back home in Austria, she actually took comedic acting classes to perfect the French language.
In 1777 she asked her architect, Richard Mique to take inspiration from the auditorium at the Chateau de Choisy (built for her predecessor of the Petit Trianon, Madame de Pompadour) and build her a simple theater on the grounds of her little estate.
The theater was completed in 1779 but the Queen stopped acting here after the death of her child in 1780 and remained in the audience.
The entrance features a classic pediment, sculpted by DeDeschamps, supported by 2 ionic columns. I love the little randomly placed window here!
The entrance is a very small vestibule, covered in blue silk, with a white sculpted doorway into the theater.
As this was a private space not meant to impress the public (and France was hemorrhaging money at the time), the decorations are all of paper mache and painted to look like finer materials.
Looks like the real thing though!
The theater lies right behind the very formal part of the garden near the French Pavilion
and acts as a transition into the English Gardens
Directly across from the entrance to the theater is the English garden arbour.
The thing I found most intriguing was the bootscrape of the theater though. 