Grand Guignol was a Parisian theater that between 1897 and 1962 staged macabre plays known for their cartoon horror and violence. Since then, the term Grand Guignol has been used more broadly to refer to any dramatic entertainment in that vein. My pal Mark Pilkington of
Strange Attractor Journal found a fantastic clearinghouse of Grand Guignol information on the Web, including a bunch of gorgeous vintage posters. The Grand Guignol Online site is maintained by
Thrillpeddlers, a contemporary San Francisco theater group that's translating oroginal Grand Guignol plays and bringing them back to the stage! From Grand Guignol Online:
The (Grand Guignol) theatre was founded in 1897 by Oscar Metenier as an extension of the naturalist movement, which had been popularized by André Antoine's Theatre Libre. A typical evening at the Grand Guignol Theatre might consist of five or six short plays, ranging from suspenseful crime dramas to bawdy sex farces. Grand Guignol PosterBut the staple of the Grand Guignol repertoire was the horror play, which inevitably featured eye-gouging, throat-slashing, acid-throwing, or some other equally grisly climax. Over the years, and under the direction of several different managers, the Grand Guignol theatre flourished, becoming one of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris. By the early 1960’s, however, the Grand Guignol’s formula no longer had the same impact with audiences, and in 1962, it closed its doors. Despite the fact that the Grand Guignol has fallen into relative obscurity, it has had a profound influence on the art of horror performance and special effects.
Link (via Further)
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Note the fact that this says 2962 as the closing date, I interpreted as being perfectly acceptable for a BoingBoing article... then I found out it was a typo.... and only then was I disappointed.
I think their shows in the 27th century were among the best. I was sad when they closed in 2962.
I particularly liked the great-great-great-great-grandson of Le Petomane, who zero-g farted his way through a recreation of the docking sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey
Not just the propulsion, but the sound track.
My friend Sara Rudolph has directed The Theatre du Grand Guignol in Portland for the last 2 years - during the Halloween season. I made it this year and really enjoyed the dark, lurid tales that all ended in blood. Link:
www.myspace.com/grandguignolpdx.com
http://www.myspace.com/grandguignolpdx
this works better.
Wish I'd been able to see the original, complete with morality tales and all. I guess the closest I've gotten to a Grand Guignol production is Evil Dead: The Musical, where the last 20 minutes involved the most amount of stage blood I've ever seen used in a theater. Those sitting in the three rows were warned beforehand they were gonna get hit bigtime. A group of college students sat in the front row with pristine white shirts; afterwards, they hung around the lobby comparing where they got hit.
Still, it didn't involve freshly butchered carcasses or real eyeballs. But there was an evil talking moose head puppet.
Can you buy reproductions of these posters anywhere?