Rosidor

Jean Guillemay du Chesnay, called Rosidor, was a 17th-century French playwright and actor.

Career

First a comedian in the Troupe du Marais,^[1] Rosidor composed a five-act tragedy, entitled La Mort du Grand Cyrus ou La Vengeance de Tomiris in 1662.^[2] He also wrote a comedy, Les divertissements du Temps ou la Magie de Mascarille, and another play, Les amours de Merlin in 1671,^[3] although some sources date the plays in 1691 and attribute them to his son, Claude.^[4] (With father and son sharing the same nickname, this is a great source of confusion.)^[5]

Rosidor played in the satire La critique des Satures de Monsieur Boileau in 1668, a play which was quickly forbidden.^[6]

Rosidor became the leader of a troupe that moved in 1669 to the Danish court, where it gave performances both in French and in German.^[7] However, the death of King Frederick III in 1670 put an end to their business.^[8] The troupe performed later in Germany, where they served the Duke of Celle,^[2] and in Italy.

Personal life

Rosidor married Charlotte Meslier, the daughter of a couple of comedians trained by Mathias Meslier and Nicole Gassot,^[9] with whom he had a son, Claude-Ferdinand Guillemay du Chesnay who would also be an actor.

Works

• 1662: La Mort du Grand Cyrus ou La Vengeance de Tomiris, Cologne ou Liège, Guillaume-Henri Streel.
• 1671: Les divertissements du Temps ou la Magie de Mascarille, Rouen.
• 1671: Les amours de Merlin, Rouen.

Bibliography

• Émile Campardon, Les comédiens du Roi de la Troupe française, Genève, 1970
• J. Fransen, Les comédiens français en Hollande au XVII et XVIIIe siècles, Genève, 1978