Founded by royal letters patent issued by King Louis XIV on 21 October 1680, the Comédie-Française is a national theatre whose defining feature is its permanent company of actors: the oldest such company in continuous activity in the world. Its motto, Simul et Singulis, means "together while remaining oneself."

Since 1681, the members of the company have been united within the Société des Comédiens-Français. Those who belong to it hold the title of sociétaire and are assigned a number in succession from the first, Catherine de Brie. The most recently appointed member, on 1 January 2026, is the 547th sociétaire, Gaël Kamilindi. Since the eighteenth century, the company has also included pensionnaires — a title originally derived from the royal pension they received. All actors join the company as pensionnaires and may subsequently be appointed sociétaire.

The company performs on a permanent basis across three theatres in Paris, supplemented by touring productions both in France and abroad.

Its historic home since the Revolution is the Salle Richelieu, located within the heritage complex of the Palais-Royal. Since 1993 and 1996 respectively, the Comédie-Française has operated two further venues: the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighbourhood, and the Studio-Théâtre in the Carrousel du Louvre.

This season, productions will also be presented at three additional Paris venues: the Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet, the Théâtre 14, and the Jardin des Tuileries as part of the Festival Paris l'été and the Étés du Louvre.

Some twenty productions — new stagings and revivals — are performed each season, totalling more than seven hundred performances. Drawing on both classical and contemporary texts, French and foreign, the company spans the full dramatic spectrum from tragedy to comedy. Sets and costumes are produced predominantly in the Comédie-Française's own workshops, reflecting rare technical and craft expertise passed down and renewed from generation to generation.

The institution's activity is sustained by seventy different trades practised by more than four hundred people, including nearly sixty actors.

In 1680, Louis XIV granted the Comédiens-Français a monopoly over plays in the French language within Paris and its surrounding districts. These works formed the original Repertoire of the Comédie-Française. Since the abolition of that monopoly, the Repertoire has continued to exist. Continually enriched by French and foreign works, ancient and contemporary, it now constitutes a major corpus of dramatic literature.

The addition of a new text to the Repertoire is voted on by the Reading Committee on the proposal of the Administrateur général. A play may only be performed at the Salle Richelieu if it belongs to this collection, which today numbers nearly three thousand works.

The alternance (rotating schedule) — implemented at the Salle Richelieu alone — allows up to five different productions to be presented within a single week, across nine performances, with no dark nights. When the two other permanent theatres are taken into account, this unique organisational model enables audiences to see up to seven different productions in the course of a single week.

Since its founding, the Comédie-Française has lived through the great movements of French history and of theatre itself. It has assembled an exceptional archive collection dating back to the seventeenth century, alongside a collection of artworks portraying, among others, celebrated actors and actresses, playwrights and authors. This heritage, complemented by costumes, jewellery and stage props from the past three centuries, provides a faithful record of the defining moments in the history of the company and of French theatre — from aesthetic turning points and literary movements to the evolution of stagecraft.

The Library-museum of the Comédie-Française, overseen by a curator-archivist, is dedicated to the conservation, study and promotion of its archives and collections. In doing so, it contributes to the preservation and dissemination of the performing arts heritage, participates in research projects, organises exhibitions and welcomes academic scholars.

Throughout the season, guided tours offer visitors the opportunity to discover the history and workings of the Comédie-Française, as well as the Salle Richelieu — an eighteenth-century listed monument located within the national estate of the Palais-Royal.