Grand Guignol
Channel: 宇宙のすべての知識 プリンシピア
Date: 2019-02-14

Grand Guignol, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12285 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Former_theatres_in_Paris
#Horror_fiction
#Theatrical_genres
#Buildings_and_structures_in_the_9th_arrondissement_of_Paris
#Theatres_completed_in_1897
#1897_establishments_in_France
#1962_disestablishments_in_France
Grand Guignol

Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet") – known as the Grand Guignol – was a theatre in the Pigalle area of Paris (at 20 bis, ). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialised in naturalistic horror shows. Its name is often used as a general term for graphic, amoral horror entertainment, a genre popular from Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre (for instance Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus", and Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi" and "The White Devil"), to today's splatter films.

"Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol" was founded in 1894 by Oscar Méténier, who planned it as a space for naturalist performance. With 293 seats, the venue was the smallest in Paris.

A former chapel, the theatre's previous life was evident in the boxes – which looked like confessionals – and in the angels over the orchestra. Although the architecture created frustrating obstacles, the design that was initially a predicament ultimately became beneficial to the marketing of the theatre. The opaque furniture and gothic structures placed sporadically on the walls of the building exude a feeling of eeriness from the moment of entrance. People came to this theatre for an experience, not only to see a show. The audience at "Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol" endured the terror of the shows because they wanted to be filled with strong “feelings” of something. Many attended the shows to get a feeling of arousal. Underneath the balcony were boxes (originally built for nuns to watch church services) that were available for theatre-goers to rent during performances because they would get so aroused by the action happening on stage. It has been said that audience m...