Théâtre du Grand Guignol

Author(s): František Deák

Source: The Drama Review: TDR, Vol. 18, No. 1, Popular Entertainments (Mar., 1974), pp. 34-43
Published by: MIT Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1144859
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 By
FrantisekDeak
If too many murders or atrocities are
committed in the theatre, if violence is
staged with a taste for shocking detail, or
if too much blood spills,the name "Grand
Guignol" is usuallyevoked. The image of
Grand Guignol as a theatre of horror is
just, but the exact nature and magnitude
of the violence and horrorare not usually
understood. By the same token, the his-
tory and stage practicesof this theatre are
not generally known either. Despite a
long existence of more than six decades,
the Theatre du Grand Guignol has been
disregarded by historians and theore-
ticians as an insignificant form of enter-
tainment. However, the fact that Grand Guignol represents a highly theatrical and
specialized genre, which involved innovative mise en scene techniques and a unique
performer-audience relationship,makes it interestingand relevant.

The Historyof GrandGuignol

In 1896, Maurice Magnier, a well-known publisher of a popular Parisianweekly

entitled L'Evenement,converted the chapel of a former convent at 20 bis, rue Chaptal
into a small but luxurioustheatre of about 280 seats. At the time, the theatricallife in
Montmartre was thriving, and Magnier hoped to capitalize on the fact that little
theatres were in vogue. But his venture was not successful, and his Theatre-Salon
closed before the end of the 1896-97 season. A year later, Oscar Metenier reopened
the little theatre and called it the Grand Guignol, a name that would become a
legend.

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 GRAND GUIGNOL 35

Before embarking on a literaryand theatrical career, Metenier had been a sec-

retaryof the police commissioner in Parisfor six years.After his resignationin 1889, he
became a regularcontributor to such sensational newspapers as Gil Bias and Journal.
Because of his background, Metenier had an intimate knowledge of the Paris un-
derworld and was considered one of the best authorities on argot. When Metenier
met Andre Antoine at the opening night of Renee (adapted by Zola from his novel
The Quarryand hailed as an important manifestationof Naturalism)Metenier had al-
ready gained recognition with a collection of short stories under the title of Flesh.
Metenier became associated with the Theatre Libre as a playwright in 1887 when
Antoine staged En Famille. In following years, Antoine staged four other plays by
Metenier: La Casserole (1888), Les Freres Zemganno (written in collaboration with
Paul Alexis in 1889) and Mademoiselle Fifi (1895). In collaboration with Isaac
Pavlovsky,Metenier was also responsible for a new translationof Leo Tolstoy's The
Power of Darkness,staged at the Theatre Librein 1888.
It was the dramaturgicalstrategy of many little theatres to offer on one bill one-
act plays of different genres and topics in order to appeal to the largest possible
audience. Metenier inaugurated the Grand Guignol with a performance of seven
short plays: two by Georges Courteline (Coup de Fusiland Monsieur Badin),two by
Jean Lorrain (Sans Dot and Leur Frere), and two by Metenier (La Breme and
Mademoiselle Fifi).The curtain-raiserwas Boniments de Mademoiselle Guignol by
Hugues Delorme. In comparison with Magnier, Metenier's orientation and dramatur-
gical plan were clearly in the tradition of Antoine's Theatre Libre.His bill was a com-
bination of short slice-of-life dramasand comedies. At least seven playwrightswhose
plays were staged in the first season of the GrandGuignol had their works previously
staged in the Theatre Libre.
The specialty of Grand Guignol in the first year of its existence was two minor
genres: Moeurs populaire (popular manners) and Fait divers (news items), both of
which belonged to the naturalistmode. Moeurs populaires were short one-act scenes
from everyday life, without an apparentdramaticevent. They were static, undramatic
slices of life, their topic-and real interest-the manners and mores of the lowest
strata of society. Metenier's one act La Breme represents this genre very well. In a
back room of a Parisianbistro, the Pichardfamily is celebrating the FirstCommunion
of their younger daughter Nini. They had allowed Nini to be instructed in catechism
and to receive her FirstCommunion because of pressure applied by the neighbor-
hood priest. Now the parents are worried that the priest's instructionshave confused
their daughter and given her wrong ideas about life. They hold up her sister-a
prostitute in Madame Prollon'shouse- as a good example of someone who manages
her life successfully. At the end, Nini, in a short monologue, applies the virtues
learned from catechism to the moralsof her family:

NINI: I will always remember what the priest told us ... that we should
never renounce our parents,even if they do wrong ... Well! I will wait 'til I am
of age and then I'll immediately ask for my working papers at police head-
quarters... like my sister.... I'll be free from care ... And I'llgo to work with
Louisaat Madame Prollon'shouse-and I'll make a lot of money to help daddy
and mommy when they get old!
MOTHER PICHARD: (EmbracingNini) Darling. You see, Pichard, the
priestsdid some good!

The other minor genre, Fait divers, originated as a newspaper form. The term
"fait divers" in journalistic language referred to a collection of sensational news items
of too little importance to be dealt with in a separate article. They were little rob-
beries, muggings, rape, a lover burned with acid by his mistress, etc. The presentation
of events was brief, without introduction or comment, and concerned nameless vic-

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36 DEAK
FRANTISEK

tims. It had a strong emotional impact. The one-act play of the Fait divers genre was a
theatrical equivalent of these journalistic items. The plays were brief, sharp, with one
sensational event of shocking impact. In comparison with the popular manners genre,
they were tightly composed with some attention to the final effect. An example of fait
divers is Metenier's Lui-first performed in Grand Guignol in 1897-in which a
prostitute slowly comes to realize that her customer is a sadistic murderer hunted by
the police. The way in which the identity of the murderer is skillfully and gradually
disclosed makes Lui a sophisticated example of the genre.
In one sense, Metenier attempted to continue in the tradition of Naturalism. Aris-
tide Bruant, a popular cabaretier and a good friend wrote: "Out of all the contempo-
rary writers, the one with whom I find the most in common is without a doubt Oscar
Metenier. The same spirit, the same profound knowledge of the manners of the
people, the same pity for humble people, declassed and disinherited." But Metenier
tended more toward shock and thrill than slice-of-life drama. To add to the spectacle
of the evening, he always arrived at the theatre dressed in black, followed by two
bodyguards, to tell the audience in shocking detail about some horrible crime that
had just been committed. The gradual increase of shocking elements in the produc-
tions caused outrage among critics and censors. To defend his position and also to
publicize his reputation for scandal, contradiction, and a taste for the forbidden,
Metenier founded Le Grand Guignol, Journal Hebdomadaire. This little weekly lasted
seven issues-from January 8, 1898 through February 1898. At the end of the theatrical
season 1897-98 Metenier gave up the directorship of Grand Guignol.
In 1898, Max Maurey took over the ownership of the theatre. Maurey was not
known in the artistic milieu of Montmartre. His background and the circumstances
under which he took over the directorship are obscure. He certainly had previous
theatrical experience-this is obvious from his skillful productions-but he made his
name as director of Grand Guignol from 1898 until 1914.
At first, Maurey continued to present naturalist plays. Some of Metenier's plays
continued to appear in the repertory, but, at the turn of the century, the emphasis
began to shift toward the horror play. The difference between naturalist works and
the early horror play is a very fine one. One can only say that at the moment when
naturalism lost its esthetic novelty, and shocking, brutal events were separated from
the slice-of-life philosophy, becoming both end and means, the first step toward the
new genre was accomplished.
One of the first distinct horror plays to become a classic was Le Systeme du Doc-
teur Goudron et Professeur Plume by Andre de Lorde. This free dramatization of
Edgar Allan Poe's story The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether began the career
of Andre de Lorde, referred to as the "Prince of Terror," who became the most distin-
guished playwright of Grand Guignol. During the years between 1903 and 1910,
Maurey produced ten new plays by de Lorde and regularly revived the old ones. The
de Lorde plays added important elements of suspense, as the anticipation of horror
became as important as the horrors themselves. "A dramatic event that happens
without any preparation," wrote Andre de Lorde, "will just distract spectators or
make them laugh. Thus, the author should strive to create an atmosphere, an
ambience, to suggest to the audience, little-by-little, that something dreadful is going
to happen. Murder, suicide, and torment seen on the stage are less frightening than
the anticipation of that torture, suicide, or murder."
The comic one-act plays that appeared on the bill with the horror plays did not
develop into any particular Grand Guignol style. At first, there were two genres: the
comic rosserie-a cynical play with vice triumphant-and farces. Rosseries faded out
of the repertory as the vogue of Naturalism declined, and farce became the most
representative comic genre presented in Grand Guignol. Often of high quality, they
were written by such well-known authors as Georges Courteline, Octave Mirbeau,

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 GRAND GUIGNOL 37

and Henri Duvernois. Under Maurey's directorship the convenient practice of

presenting a bill of several one-act dramasand comedies developed into an esthetic
principle. The alternation of plays of extreme horror with farces-appropriately
termed douche ecossaise, a hot-and-cold shower-became intentional, regular,and
carefully planned. The evening was usuallycomposed in the following way: first,light
horrordrama; second, a comedy; third, another horrordrama;fourth, comedy; fifth,
the chief horror dramaof the evening; sixth, a comedy. Sometimes, the evening con-
sisted of fewer or more plays of one act, but the comedies and horror plays were al-
ways alternated, and both the horror and comedy intensified as the evening
continued.
The changes in dramaturgysuggest the transformationof GrandGuignol, but the
changes in mise en scene are equally, if not even more important.Metenier followed
the simplicity of naturalisticstaging; he respected the text and his mise en scene ba-
sicallyserved it. With Maurey in charge, the situationchanged. Maureywas producer,
director, and playwright, adding nine plays, comedies, and horror dramas to the
repertory, and excercising complete control over every aspect of production. Rene
Berton, one of the house playwrights,described Maurey'sworking habits in some de-
tail: "Max Maurey is not only the director of Grand Guignol; it is also possible to say
that he is the author of the majorityof plays presented there. Playsthat Maurey ac-
cepts are always taken with the understanding of their being corrected and it is he
who corrects them. ... I should say that he inflicts himself upon them. Any play, no
matter how solidly built, does not find mercy with him. There are always modifica-
tions to be made ... and he changes the end, middle and beginning; he arranges
everything.... When the play, comedy, or drama, is in rehearsalfor two weeks and
the piece, despite strenuous work by the author, actors and stage manager, is just not
playing well, one day Maurey arrives,installshimself in the auditoriumand listens to
the rehearsal without a comment. He lets the play run through two or three
times and only then begins to give rather insignificantsuggestions; little-by-little he
becomes animated, he cuts some lines, adds other lines, takes care of decor, stage
props, regulates lighting and sound, gives indications to each actor about where to
stand and how to say each line, and manages to pillage everything that was done pre-
viously.... What facilitatesMax Maurey'stask is the spiritof discipline and devotion,
compliance and endurance of his actors."
Maurey, who was very good at public relations, began to publicize the Grand
Guignol as the playhouse of horror. He encouraged the fame of Grand Guignol hor-
rors by claiming that some spectators with weak nerves fainted during the perfor-
mance. For publicity, Maurey added a house doctor to the paid staff of the theatre.
The anecdote-based on a cartoon by Abel Faivre-in which a collapsed woman's
husband desperately calls for a house doctor and the director replies that the doctor
has also fainted was told over-and-over as an advertising gimmick. In his program,
Maurey also reprinted a newspaper cartoon showing spectators having a medical
check-up before the performance. Under Maurey's directorship the transition from
the naturalisttheatre to the playhouse of horrors was accomplished, and the basic
genre of the horrorplay with its variousaspects of mise en scene was definitively set.
At the beginning of the FirstWorld Warin 1914,all theatres in Francewere closed
down by governmental decree. As the war continued, the ban was lifted, theatres
reopened, and GrandGuignol resumed production in February,1915.The war added
some problems. Firstthe unpolitical, unheroic, and unpatrioticrepertoire was looked
on for a time as improper; second, it was doubted that the artificialhorrorsof Grand
Guignol would be strong enough in a time when so many people experienced the
horrors of war; third, the question was asked whether, after eighteen years of exis-
tence, the formula of Grand Guignol was not worn thin. Critics often pointed out
these problems. Despite their predictions, the GrandGuignol not only survivedthese

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38 FRANTISEKDEAK

uncertain years, but became more popular than ever between the two World Wars.
The new director, Camille Choisy, was responsible to a great extent for this lasting
success.
Choisy, who took over the Grand Guignol in partnershipwith Charles Zibell in
1914, came from a theatrical family and had previously appeared as an actor in
second-rate melodramaplayhouses.Zibell'spartnershipwas only financial.Choisy, as
Maurey before him, was in complete control of the theatre, and he continued in the
tradition established by Maurey in all respects. Playswere cut and changed with the
same zeal as before. Maxa, the leading lady of GrandGuignol in the Choisy era, re-
membered that in one instance an entire act was added the night before the opening.
Camillo Antona-Traversi,who was Choisy'ssecretary,wrote: "It is possible to say that
the new director of Grand Guignol was formed in the Max Maurey and Andre
Antoine school to such an extent that he embodied their qualities as well as their
shortcomings.The same exaggerated love of mise en scene, the same zest for realityat
any price. ... Where my director excelled was in the mise en scene. Nothing made
him happierthan to invent new tricksto make the audience shiver."
Choisy did not hesitate to intensifythe horrorspresented on stage, nor to order
plays according to the timeliness of certain topics. Spectacularmise en scene and the
use of light and sound effects were, under his directorship,carriedfurtherthan ever
before-to such an extent that mise en scene took priorityover literaryelements.
AfterChoisy bought furnishingsfor a complete operating room, for example, he had
playswrittenaround it.
In 1928, Zibell sold his share in GrandGuignol to JackJouvin.The collaboration
between Choisy and Jouvin did not work out, and in 1930 Choisy left the Grand
Guignol, and Jouvinhad complete control of the theatre. A producer, director and a
very prolific playwright,Jouvin was the first to attempt to change the formula of
GrandGuignol to emphasize subtle psychologicalterrorinsteadof blood and physical
torture. He also tried to unite each evening by theme or authorship.Another change
was the departure of the leading lady of GrandGuignol, Maxa,who left or was fired.
(Accordingto her, Jouvinasked her to leave because she had too much personal suc-
cess, and he wished to have more ensemble acting.) Choisy founded a new theatre,
the Theatre du Rireet de L'Epouvante,to compete with Jouvin.Maxafollowed in his
footsteps and founded LeTheatredu Vice et de la Vertu.Both playhouseswere short-
lived.
In GrandGuignol, directorsfollowed
P,us,,?,in,.
...i..
one another. Clara Bizou, Eva Bergson,
Mme. Raymonde Mechard, Fred Pas-
cale-none of whom achieved dis-
tinction. Although Maxa returned for a
time, the GrandGuignol lost momentum.
The problem was that the new directors
were not able to adapt the old formulato
current popular taste; instead, they tried
unsuccessfully to change it or merely to
repeat previously successful plays. In the
fifties, Grand Guignol's owners in-
troduced full-length plays-dramatiza-
tions of popular novels, and police and
detective stories-into the repertory.
Some musical revues were also staged.
These innovations were successful in
themselves but, because they were not in
the horror-genre tradition, they did not

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 GRAND GUIGNOL 39

perpetuate the fame of Grand Guignol. There also was a short-lived attempt to revi-
talize Grand Guignol by using more experimental authors and directors. In 1952, for
example, George Vitalystaged Ghelderode's FarceDes Tenebreux. But this approach
did not prove successful either, and in the early sixtiesGrandGuignol slowly went out
of business.
Despite some attempts to export it to other countries (Italy,England,Canada,and
the United States) the Grand Guignol remained almost exclusively a phenomenon of
Frenchtheatre. The first attempt to transpose the GrandGuignol to the United States
was made by Holbrook Blinnfrom 1912to 1915at the PrincessTheater in New York.In
1923,the Parisiancompany visited New York. It played at the FrolicTheater for almost
ten weeks, but due to the language difficulties, cultural differences and rather mild
horror repertory, it was not too successful. In 1926, Georges Renavent founded the
American Grand Guignol, Inc., at the Grove Street Theatre. The venture did not last
beyond the firstseason.

The Style of Grand Guignol

The number of plays produced in Grand Guignol during its long existence ran
into the thousands. With some exceptions, all were by so-called minor writers and
only the better known were published. The usual themes of Grand Guignol plays
were death, crime, and insanity.These, tempered with sex, adultery,vengence, hyp-
notism, surgical operations, and torture, were to provide the emotional involvement.
Expectationof violent moments also contributed to the theatricaltension. The typical
play was always realisticin setting and circumstances.Only after verisimilitudewas es-
tablished, was the first motif of fear, the first hint of the sensational introduced and, in
rapid progression, skillfully intensified. The brutal event, the importance of realistic
detail, and the moral detachment from the theme, came from the naturalisticheritage
of the Grand Guignol, but the importance of atmosphere, extreme emotions, the ele-
ments of the unknown and mysterious had much in common with melodrama.
However, the Grand Guignol play differed from any other genre in its purpose: to
produce a single, pure emotion of fear. To this purpose it combined and united ele-
ments from different genres and, in the process, created its own eclectic style, not
only in the play script but in every element of performance.
When writing for Grand Guignol, authors followed both the thematic and com-
positional practice of the genre and its tradition of mise en scene. Directors treated
scripts like scenarios, cutting and changing not from any desire to exercise their
creativityor power but for very practicalreasons.The theatre of horror is the theatre
of extreme situations and emotions. To manipulatethe spectators'emotions required
an extraordinaryprecision in rendering those emotions on stage. An ambiguity in
text, or a lack of precision in stage business or effects could have turned a horror
scene into comedy. Of primaryimportance were the credibilityof mise en scene and,
at the same time, the ability to create an atmosphere of susceptibility in which the
spectators' criticalfaculties were surpressed and their imaginationschannelled in the
rightdirection.
The stage of the Grand Guignol theatre was about twenty feet wide and twenty
feet deep. In this relativelysmall space, the scenery was simple, usuallyconsisting of a
combination of real objects (furniture, instruments, props) and painted flats and
drops. Typical settings were a drawing room, a prison, a mental hospital, or an
operating room. The settings of the plays were usually simple. Only in a few, rather
atypical cases, were very complicated settings, such as a submarine, attempted. The
stage design was, in general, an attempt to combine verisimilitudeand atmosphere.

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 ~~. . :'Poster illustration for Les In-
i\ (i-/ females (The Crime in the
(Madhouse).

One of the most important ways of creating atmosphere was the use of light. On
this point Grand Guignol did not follow the tradition of naturalism but rather that of
melodrama. The lighting equipment consisted of footlights and strip lights. Projectors,
often with colored filters, were usually used for special effects. The intensity of
lighting was low. The stage was almost in semi-darkness. This was important for the
creation of a gloomy and shadowy atmosphere, but it was also important to conceal
imperfections in the scenery, which would have spoiled the illusion. For the
execution of tricks, semi-darkness was also a necessity. Maxa wrote of the use of light:
"The most important thing is to create an atmosphere. A certain kind of light is indis-
pensable. It is necessary to have illumination filled with shadows. It is paradoxical but
it is like that .. some red or green in the corner, and the eye will see mystery
everywhere. From the moment the curtain goes up, it is necessary that the audience
be shocked and that it cannot see the decor completely-that it is already looking for
something to happen. In that case, the audience has its mind turned toward some-
thing that it does not yet see, but that it is trying to see."
In the productions of Grand Guignol, sound effects were of great importance.
They contributed to the verisimilitude of situation-the sound of a storm, wind, rain, a
train-and at the same time were an important agent in creating atmosphere-tolling
bells, frightening noises from the furniture, creaking doors and windows. Since
recorded sound did not exist, Ratineau, the skillful stage manager of Grand Guignol
had to invent ways of making sounds. The sound of galloping horses was achieved by
two coconuts clashing against each other; the rain by letting lead pellets fall on a
drum, thunder by rolling a dumbbell on a wooden floor. Cries and groans made back-
stage also contributed to the sound effects. Maxa noticed that those that seemed to
come from far away were especially effective in evoking emotions. Particular atten-
tion was given to the orchestration of sound effects: In fact, Choisy, in the last stage of
rehearsal, used to spend a few days on just this production aspect alone.
Usually, all violent actions involved some kind of a trick. In the early stages, tricks
were few, but as the fantastic and mysterious became more central their importance
increased. The tricks used in Grand Guignol productions were traditional secrets of
the theatre-its jealously guarded property. In spite of their fame, most were rather
simple.
The famous secret formula for blood consisted of a mixture of carmine and
glycerine. The importance of this mixture was that it clotted, much as real blood does.
It was used for knife, razor, scalpel, and other cuts. For wounds that were not flowing,
a red current jelly was used. When blood was supposed to come out of the mouth
after a shot in the back, a capsule of hemoglobin was put into the mouth in an ap-
propriate moment, and the actor had only to bite into it. Little containers of blood
mixture were hidden on stage under a table or at the back of a chair. The actor sur-
reptitiously put his finger into a container and marked his face.

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 At left, a scene from a later
production, The Vampire, that
illustrates the use of a blood-
s to pap d
f t n o filled rubber-handled knife.
Below, a poster illustration de-
picting the complex apparatus
for rejuvenating life in a sev-
ered head.

Photo courtesy of French Cultural

ishServices.
hospital

The knife with a blade that retractsinto the handle is a common stage prop. In
Grand Guignol, the handle was made of rubber; inside was a capsule of the blood
mixture. When the handle was pressed, the blood flowed out. Daggers, knives, and
arrows that appeared to penetrate the neck or hand were held in place by curved
clasps. To simulate the cutting of a throat by an old-fashioned straight razor, the actor
applied a dull blade to the neck and, with a finger previously soaked in blood,
followed its path.
In Les Infernales by Andre de Lorde, the face of one of the inmates of a mental
hospital is burned on a stove by two of her comrades. A red electric bulb gave the im-
pression of a hot stove. Lactose powder was applied to the top of the stove. A heating
coil produced fumes from the powder. The same principle was used to burn out eyes
with a poker. At the top of the poker was a little red bulb covered by tissue and
lactose powder. To simulate the sounds of cracking bones, a rubber envelope filled
with walnut shells was placed in the hair of the victim. If it was necessary to break a
bottle on somebody's head, the bottle was made of sugar. To hang or to crucify
someone, an ingenious system of belts was used to supportthe body.
More complex tricksderived from magic illusionswere necessaryfor some plays.
For example, after a convict is guillotined in L'Hommequi a Tue la Mort by Rene
Berton, a scientist wishes to examine the head to see if life still exists. The head is
placed on a table, electric anodes are applied, blood is injected, and slowly the head
begins to show signs of life. The attorneyasksthe convict's head if the conviction had
been just. The head answers "No!" The attorney goes mad. The actor who played the
convict was under the table. In the
top of the table was an opening for
his head; between the front and back %
legs, a mirror was installed that
blocked the spectator's view of the
actor and at the same time reflected
the front legs of the table, so that the
spectator saw four table legs. The de-
capitated head was a wax replica of
the convict's head placed on the table
over the opening. Before applying
the instruments to the head, the ac-
tors grouped around the table with
the excuse of trying to see better,
and, in that instant, when the

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42 FRANTISEK
DEAK

spectator's view was blocked, the wax head was removed and the actor put his head
through the opening.
Some writers, who knew the practices of Grand Guignol, included the details of
particulartricks in their stage directions. For example, Andre de Lorde gave instruc-
tions in the text of Le Cercueil de Chair on how to stage the appearance of a ghost.
"The stage manager is hidden back stage behind the black curtain of the medium's
cabinet. At the moment of complete darkness on stage, he parts the curtain slightly
with his left hand covered by a black glove and slowly unfolds a small muslin scarf.
When the scarf is the size of a head, with his right hand also in a black glove he places
an ordinary white carnival mask made from cardboard under the muslin scarf.Then
he presses the sides of the maskto give the face a more elongated shape. To end the
appearance, he proceeds in the following way: first,the mask is withdrawn,after, lit-
tle-by-little diminishingthe visible surface, he removes the muslinscarf."
Makeup was also a part of special effects and tricks. The script sometimes de-
manded a sudden change of makeup, as in the case of a character suddenly burned
with acid, having his eyes burned out, placed in an acid bath or slowly decomposing.
The maskof an acid-scarredface was made of thin sheepskin on which black and red
pieces of sponge were pasted. For sudden changes, an actor covered his prepared
makeup with a piece of plaster and foundation makeup. At the moment when he was
burned or doused with acid, he skillfullypulled the plaster off. Maxa described two
examples of makeup that were used as tricks: "The most spectacular torment in Le
Jardinde Suplices by Octave Mirbeau was the cutting up of a Chinamanon stage. The
actor had his back covered with false skin. The skin was cut and layers of skin were
pulled from him ... But the most curious thing that succeeded as a trick was to de-
compose myself on stage during two hundred performances in La Grande Epuou-
vante by Andre de Lorde. A little projector, skillfullyplaced, sent dark spots around
my eyes, neck, and breasts.This little activity lasted for some time, accompanied by
my cries of horror. Then I bent over, twisted with pain, and, with a horrible groan,
pulled on a green body stocking with great skill. I arose, putrified."
It has been noticed that two tendencies were alwayspresent in the production of
Grand Guignol: the naturalisticand the melodramatic.The acting in Grand Guignol
was also markedby this peculiarity.The verisimilitudeof the situationdemanded con-
centration on realisticdetail and a rather realisticapproach, but in the expressions of
horror, in the situationsof torture, madnesss, and violent death, actors had to be able
to produce a ratherdifficult scale of expressions and sounds. If one can judge from
pictures, the gestures and facial expressions were strongly emphasized, and they re-
sembled to a great extent, the acting manners of early silent films. Thus, they were
close to the melodramatictraditionof acting.
The situation of the actor was complicated: his function was not only to act but to
execute tricks.This double role of actor and sleight-of-hand artistis peculiarto Grand
Guignol. (Diderot's notion of the paradoxof acting was practiced, consciously or not.)
The tricksalmost alwayshad to be executed in the moments of heightened emotions.
The actor had to render the exact outward signs of feeling and at the same time exe-
cute the trickswith precision and coordination. The tricksoften involved several par-
ticipants, which made the timing and coordination even more difficult. If not under
complete control, actors were in danger of hurting each other or, even worse, of
turning the situation of horror into one of comedy by mistake. Maxa commented on
some aspects of acting: "The play has to be acted slowly, as one weighs certain words.
The silences and measures are indispensable, because during those silences the
imagination of the spectator is advancing. ... From my first performance, I had to
learn my trade harshly.Often one word, one sentence said a little too fast, a little too
brutally,caused a laugh.... It is understandable.The atmosphere was tense, nerves
on edge, a mere nothing could cause laughter. In the case of a mistake, I was com-
pletely abashed. When the atmosphere was lost, it was necessary to regain it, which

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 GRAND GUIGNOL 43

was sometimes very hard and often impossible. I was very young when I was initiated
by the older actors, who had already broken into the profession."
Reactions to the violence and horrorof GrandGuignol productions were varied.
They ranged from fainting to ironic amusement. For some spectators, the suggestive
style of Grand Guignol provoked a genuine reaction. For example, in a presentation
of a surgical operation on stage, some spectators smelled ether, which of course was
not used. In reaction to the realisticallystaged blood transfusion,some spectators got
sick or even fainted. Maxa remembered that actors backstage used to count the
number of spectators who got sick as a measure of the production's success.
The GrandGuignol used a paid claque to encourage and secure the desired reac-
tions. But the largest part of the audience came to the Grand Guignol because of
curiosity, and they took it as a curiosity.They usuallysaw two shows: the horrors on
the stage and the cries of shock and fainting in the audience. Grand Guignol had its
own public in Paris, but tourists were also a large part of the audience, especially
during the summer. For them the trip through the dark narrow streets of old Mont-
martrewas a partof the experience.
It should be pointed out that the horrorsof GrandGuignol were well within the
accepted norms of society. The directors of Grand Guignol were careful to frighten
the audience, but not to offend it. An interesting event that points out the thin line
between horror and offense was the scandal that arose around the staging of Au Petit
Jour by Andre de Lorde and Jean Bernock in December 1921. At the end of the play,
the condemned criminal is guillotined on stage. This caused an immediate scandal.
On the following day, there was a demonstration in front of the theatre and an ani-
mated discussion in the daily press. The director, Camille Choisy, and both play-
wrights were summoned to the chief commissioner of the Parispolice. According to
Choisy: "The commissioner declared that the play is moral. It prosecutes the
murderer-pimp, an individual who was justly condemned. The commissioner ...
simply asked me to bringthe condemned man to the edge of the scaffolding and then
to let the curtainfall at that moment instead of guillotining him."The victims in Grand
Guignol productions were tortured and killed in many brutal and refined ways, but
the French public and the authorities could not tolerate seeing someone guillotined
on stage.
The productions of Grand Guignol were not really a surprise. Spectators knew
where they were going, what was going to be offered, and what they were supposed
to experience. Basically,the presentations were a standardcombination of a novelty-
sensation/repetition-formula. It is interesting to notice that Grand Guignol authors
avoided historical themes and that, in an attempt to actualize the plays, they incor-
porated technological innovations (electrical appliances, cars, submarines,
telephones) as dramatic elements. Also, certain popular scientific and pseudo-
scientific topics such as hypnotism and supernaturalphenomena were used. Grand
Guignol avoided almost completely any direct comment on the political, social, or
moral aspect of contemporary life, although there were hidden implicationsof racism
and chauvinism. But novelty, sensationalism,exoticism, and the negation of the social
and moral aspects of contemporary life are not deficiencies of the genre, merely part
of its definition.
SELECTEDBIBLIOGRAPHY:
Antona-Traversi,Camillo. L'histoiredu GrandGuignol, Theatre de I'epouvante et du rire, Paris
1933.
Comoedia Illustre, Vol. II, 6, 7, 13, 19; Vol. III, 17; Vol. IV, 14; Vol. V, 12,19; Vol. VI, 8,18; Vol. VII,
10. (1910-1920).
Homrighous, M.E. "The Grand Guignol" (dissertation, Northwestern University, 1963).
LeTheatre. 1969, No. 2. Edited by Arrabal. (entire issue devoted to Grand Guignol).
Maxa. "Quinze ans du 'Grand-Guignol', ou la poesie de la peur." Revue Mensuelle des Lettres
Francaises, December 1965.
Nichet, Jacques. "Contribution a I'histoire du Grand Guignol" (dissertation, Sorbonne, 1966).

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