Post by Stirling on Sept 11, 2006 19:44:14 GMT 1
Once known as Renaud's House of Thesbians, which is where Lestat got his start as an actor, the building changes hands when Lestat buys it in 1789. He gives it to a coven of vampires who had followed satanic rituals, but whose illusions about the Dark Ways had been shattered by Lestat's appearance in Paris. They beg Lestat for protection and he advises them to become actors. He gives control of the theater to Eleni, hands Nicolas over to their care, suggests that Armand join with these vampires, and then leaves Paris. Named by Nicolas, the Theatre des Vampires becomes highly successful. The vampires perform as giant marionettes and the orchestra imitates mechanical musicians. Paris's lower classes accept this theater as a metaphor for the hated aristocrats when Nicolas writes plays that reflect the political unrest of the city. His themes involve death in the midst of life, and his intent is both to make a mockery of all things sacred and to beguile mortals. One play is about a vampire who starves because he can get no blood from a puppet; another is about a girl forced to dance until she dies. Eleni predicts to Lestat that they could feast on victims onstage and get away with it--a prediction that later comes true. Vampires come from other parts of Europe just to be included in the productions. Attendance at the Theater of the Vampires is by invitation only, and the mortal ushers double during the day as guards. Theatrical performances involve making fantasy appear real, and the vampires invert this concept to make reality an illusion. Eventually, they do kill onstage, but the mortal audience believes it is merely a performance. Armand remains with the changing covens who perform in the theater, helping to perfect the theater's images but remaining scornfully on the edges. He is simply biding his time, waiting for a vampire to come through Paris with whom he will connect; he believes the theater is his best means of finding such a kindred soul. He must wait for over seventy-five years, as it turns out. Louis and Claudia are invited to a performance of the vampires, which begins with the beating of a tambourine and the sound of a flute. The music is medieval and melancholic. The stage shows the image of a woods, and an old woman vaily pursues a figure representing Death. Death takes an interest in a young woman instead, and seven characters who appear to be vampires gather around her. They strip her naked, thus exposing both her body and her fear, for she is a real victim. Armand seduces her, then passes her around until she dies. After the performance, Louis and Claudia are invited below the theater to where the vampires reside, in a large ballroom. The room is decorated with long mirrors and gloomy, decadent murals of torment and death, reflecting a spirit of cynicism. Louis is not very impressed with the troupe of "actors" who all dress in black and seem rather superficial. The antics of the vampires attract the attention of the Talamasca, who collect a file on the theater through the years and who note Armand's uninterrupted association with it as evidence of his youthful immortality. David Talbot eventually shows the file to Jesse. Louis burns the theater down after the coven destroys Claudia.