Theatre of Fear & Horror: Expanded Edition : The Grisly Spectacle of the Grand Guignol of Paris, 1897-1962

From its beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris and throughout its sixty-year reign of terror, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol gleefully celebrated horror and fear. Innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, depravity, and guilt were its primary themes. By dissecting primal taboos in an unprecedentedly graphic manner, it became the progenitor of all the blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking "splatter" movies of today. This first English-language book on Grand Guignol examines its history, themes, and methods; summarizes its plots; provides the texts of two typical plays; and illustrates it with close to 100 pictures. "Bloodcurdling shrieks, fiendish schemes, deeds of darkness, mayhem and mutilationwe all have a rough idea of what Grand Guignol stands for. But until now it has been hard to find out much more about it than that. According to the American theater historian Mel Gordon, no major history of the theater so much as mentions it, although it is a form of entertainment that held its own on the Paris stage for more than half a century. But Mr. Gordon has made a thorough job of filling the gap."John Gross, The New York Times Here is the expanded edition of classic outr book, The Grand Guignol , first published in 1988 and now long out of print. Like the original anthology, it includes an illustrated introduction to the theater of Paris and abroad, a breakdown of its stage tricks, a summary of one hundred plots, extensive photo documentation, Andr de Lord's essay, "Fear in Literature," and two originally produced Grand Guignol scripts. The expanded edition also contains additional graphic and textual material including a color insert of Grand Guignol posters; the 1938 autobiographical account of Maxa, the company's leading female performer entitled "I Am the Maddest Woman in the World"; and the controversial playscript Orgy in the Lighthouse . 'Bloodcurdling shrieks, fiendish schemes, deeds of darkness, mayhem and mutilation—we all have a rough idea of what Grand Guignol stands for. But until now it has been hard to find out much more about it than that. According to the American theater historian Mel Gordon, no major history of the theater so much as mentions it, although it is a form of entertainment that held its own on the Paris stage for more than half a century. But Mr. Gordon has made a thorough job of filling the gap.'—John Gross, The New York TimesHere is the expanded edition of classic outré book, The Grand Guignol, first published in 1988 and now long out of print.Like the original anthology, it includes an illustrated introduction to the theater of Paris and abroad, a breakdown of its stage tricks, a summary of one hundred plots, extensive photo documentation, André de Lord's essay,'Fear in Literature,'and two originally produced Grand Guignol scripts.The expanded edition also contains additional graphic and textual material including a color insert of Grand Guignol posters; the 1938 autobiographical account of Maxa, the company's leading female performer entitled'I Am the Maddest Woman in the World'; and the controversial playscript Orgy in the Lighthouse. The Theatre of the Grand Guignol, which began in turn-of-the-century Paris, celebrated horror and fear. Innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, depravity and guilt were its primary themes. This text examines its history, themes and methods and summarizes its plots.