Barrault was named director of the Theatre de France on Paris' Left
Bank in 1959. In 1968 it was announced that he had been dismissed. The
coup de grâce was administered in a stern letter from old friend, André
Malraux, France's Minister of Culture, who had initially asked Barrault
to preside as its director. The cause of Barrault's dismissal was his
role in the student riots there. During the demonstrations, anarchist
rebels from the Sorbonne "liberated" the Odéon Theatre and turned it
into a discussion hall. They also destroyed 50% of the sets, ripped up
red velvet seats and urinated on costumes. Barrault wept when he saw
the damage, but government officials believed that he tacitly allowed
the rebels to take over. Barrault also took to the stage to proclaim
his sympathy with student goals and to denounce France's "bourgeois
culture." His removal set off a chorus of protests by French stage
figures and critics.