The Contested ParterreIn the playhouses of eighteenth century France, clerks and students, soldiers and merchants, and the occasional aristocrat stood in the pit, while the majority of the elite sat in loges. These denizens of the parterre, who accounted for up to two thirds of the audience, were given to disruptive behavior that culminated in full scale riots in the last years before the Revolution. Offering a commoner's eye view of the drama offstage, this fascinating