Before modern horror movies, there used to be live horror plays. These plays were complete with all the semi-realistic blood and guts that the 1940s could conjure up. The most famous of these horror theaters was the Théâtre du Grand Guignol in Paris.
For 65 years, until the theater’s permanent closure in 1962, the 290-seat room staged nightly scenes of horror and violence that are nearly on par with today’s horror movies.
Just imagine being in a packed theater and seeing this happening on stage, just a few feet from your seat. Freaky.
The special effects for productions at Grand Guignol were certainly ahead of their time.
The violence on stage at Grand Guignol was sometimes so realistic that audience members would leave the theater screaming in the middle of the production.
A packed house.
The sets were also quite elaborate.
The theater employed some top notch makeup artists.
Caution: Mad scientist at work.
That’s going to leave a mark.
After World War II, the crowds at the Grand Guignol slowly dwindled until the theater was forced to close.
The reason for the decline in attendance was attributed to the scale of violence of the second world war.
“We could never equal Buchenwald,” the Grand Guignol’s final director, Charles Nonon, said. “Before the war, everyone felt that what was happening onstage was impossible. Now we know that these things, and worse, are possible in reality.”
Still the spooky, violence stage performances at the Grand Guignol’s would help set the bar for the future of horror cinema.
(source: Time)
I have a hard time getting through a violent movie when it’s on TV, I can’t imagine how uncomfortable I’d be if all that fake violence was taking place on a stage several feet away.
What They Used To Do At This Paris Theatre Will Give You Nightmares
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