Claque (from Fr. cliquer, 'to clap the hands,' or 'applaud') is the name given to an institution for securing the success of a public performance or production, by bestowing upon it preconceived applause, and thus giving the public, who are not in the secret, a false notion of the impression it has made. The claque is of great antiquity, its first invention having been attributed to no less noted a person than Nero. Its supposed origin in Rome gives the name of Romains to the claqueurs to this day, who are also named chevaliers du lustre, from their position in the middle of the pit. The first regular use of the claque as an organised and paid body seems to have been during the time of the great Napoleon, in the famous struggle between Mademoiselle Georges and Mademoiselle Duchesnois, at the Théâtre Français; and from that time its use became almost universal in Paris. The chief of the claque, who is named entrepreneur de succès dramatique, is an official of importance. His business is to attend the last two or three rehearsals of a new play; to arrange the points at which applause, laughter, or tears are to be forthcoming; and to communicate his directions to his corps. This is divided into several classes. The main body, whose business it is to applaud, form a solid mass in the centre of the pit; and in various parts of the theatre are placed ricurs ('laughers'), pleureurs, or rather pleureuses ('weepers'), and bisscurs (whose business it is to call bis or encore!). More artistic developments of the claqueur are the sangloteur, a female who sobs hysterically; the pâmuse, who faints; and the moucheur, a well-dressed gentleman who blows his nose with tact at affecting passages.
The members of the claque are generally men who are glad to earn a small sum in any way, but it is also recruited from the ranks of poor amateurs, who in return pay a smaller price for their tickets. M. Perrin, the late director of the Théâtre Français, succeeded in 1878 in abolishing the claque in his theatre; and the Grand Opéra followed the example of the house of Molière.
In London there is no regularly organised claque, but in certain theatres precautions are taken on first nights which have precisely the same effect as the claque.