Performing Grand-Guignol

From the authors of the successful Grand-Guignol and London’s Grand Guignol - also published by UEP – this book includes translations of a further eleven plays, adding significantly to the repertoire of Grand-Guignol plays available in the English language.

From the authors of the successful Grand-Guignol and London’s Grand Guignol - also published by UEP – this book includes translations of a further eleven plays, adding significantly to the repertoire of Grand-Guignol plays available in the English language.  The emphasis in the translation and adaptation of these plays is once again to foreground the performability of the scripts within a modern context – making Performing Grand-Guignol an ideal acting guide.

Hand and Wilson have acquired extremely rare acting copies of plays which have never been published and scripts that were published in the early years of the twentieth century but have not been published since – even in French. Includes plays written by, or adapted from, such notable writers as Octave Mirbeau, Gaston Leroux and St John Ervine as well as examples by Grand-Guignol stalwarts René Berton and André de Lorde.  Also included is the 1920s London translation of Blind Man’s Buff written by Charles Hellem and Pol d’Estoc and banned by the Lord Chamberlain.

A brief history of the Parisian theatre is also included, for the benefit of readers who have not read the previous books.

Preface

A note on the scripts

Section I: A Brief History of the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol

Section II: The Grand-Guignol Laboratory

Section III: Prefaces and Plays

First Programme

            The Haunted House (La Maison hantée) by Marc Bonis-Charancle

            The Kama Sutra or Never Play with Fire… (Kama Soutra, ou Il ne faut pas joer avec le feu) by Régis Gignoux

            Blind Man’s Buff by Charles Hellem and Pol d’Estoc

            The Light in the Tomb (Gott mit uns! (La Lumière dans la tombeau))by René Berton

Second Programme

            Progress by St. John Ervine

            A Silk Dress (Une Robe de Soie) by Henriette Charasson

            The Great Terror (La Grande épouvante) by André de Lorde and Henri Bauche

Third Programme

            The Wax Museum (Figures de Cire) by André de Lorde and Georges Montignac

            The Lovers (Les Amants) by Octave Mirbeau

            The Man Who Met the Devil (L’homme qui a vu le diable) by Gaston Leroux

            The Man Who Killed Death (L’homme qui a tué la mort) by René Berton