In 1887, 29-year-old Antoine made a report that the Parisian public accepted nothing but plays of only a few authors. It was in his theatre that plays by foreign authors like Ibsen, Hauptman, Tolstoy, Strindberg, Verga, Tourgueniev were presented to the French public. In its first three years the Free Theatre assembled more plays than the French Comedy and Odéon joined together. Despite the success, in June 1849 Antoine ran out of resources. One of his actors - Larochelle, tried to continue his work, but due to the lack of money, the theatre was closed on April 17, 1896. However, in 1897 the theatre was once again opened under the direction of Andre Antoine. Some of the most successful plays include: Carrot Hair by Jules Renard, an adaptation of 'The Earth' by Emile Zola, 'Tallow Ball' by Maupassant and 'Old Heildelberg' by Meyer Foerster. In 1906 Andre Antoine left the theatre in order to become the director of the Odéon Theatre. He was replaced by Firmin Gémier. In 1943 Simone Berriau took over and the first plays under his direction were a homage to the glory of Andre Antoine.