Could a woman be a playwright in the nineteenth century? Writing for the theater was an especially difficult career for a woman, requiring exceptional socio-cultural circumstances and a judicious career strategy.
The case of Marie de Solms (1831 – 1902), which this article studies, is a perfect illustration of this twofold constraint. A wealthy and cosmopolitan aristocrat, she had the social and cultural prerequisites to devote herself to playwriting. Her career as a playwright then developed according to astute choices calculated to ensure her visibility and renown. First, she combined multiple fields of activity, starting out as a salonnière, journalist, founder of several journals, and friend of a number of influential men of letters. Moreover, she picked prestigious female models: Germaine de Staël and above all George Sand, with whom she corresponded. Finally, like these two models of hers, she reached the theater by way of a société stage: the Théâtre du Chalet d’Aix-les-Bains, where she was at once the owner, the manager, and one of the main playwrights. Thanks to the success of her société productions in fashionable society, and with the help of journalists and professional theater artists, she then also succeeded at having her plays staged in public venues.