Judy. On our first day in Bordeaux, we discovered the Jardin Public—a huge park with a cafe, a botanical garden, a pond with a bridge to an island and a traditional outdoor puppet show: Guignol Guerin!
This last is what grabbed us. Guignol is the character, and Guerin the name of the family of puppeteers who have performed his story here in Bordeaux for six generations! We noted the time of the next performance, and showed up well in advance on Saturday for the 4 PM sèance.
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The stage is set |
A little background is in order. Laurent Mourguet was an 18th century silk weaver in the French city of Lyon who fell on hard times during the French Revolution. So, logically, he began practicing dentistry. And to attract patients, he set up a puppet show in front of his dentist’s chair. He soon found puppetry to be more lucrative. After several starts, with various characters, in 1808 he created the clever silk weaver Guignol, who like Punch in Punch and Judy, constantly outwits the Count, Flageolet (the gendarme), his wife Madelon, and any others who might cause a problem in his happy life. He loves spending time with his wine-drinking buddy Gnafron. Guignol is clever, witty, kind, poor, and tricky. And an absolute delight.
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Guignol and his copain Gnafron |
Some years later, in 1853, the Guerin family began Guignol performances in Bordeaux. While many of the performances are the traditional park shows, the present M. André Guerin often takes the show to the beach or to theatres, wherever an audience might be. What could be better, though, than an outdoor puppet show, surrounded by children screaming “Allez, Guignol!” so he’d get away from the Gendarme. Or laughing uproariously when Guignol smacked the Count with a slapstick, when the Count had just tried to stab him in a sword duel. Or shouting, “Au secours!” when the Crocodile started chasing him. So we gladly forked over our 7 euros and sat in plastic chairs in front of the stage.
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The Count tries to stab Guignol! |
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The children were really engaged |
M. Guerin knows just how to warm up his audience, making fart sounds, asking kids their names, saying “pi-pi” and “caca” then stumbling backwards in embarrassment while both parents and children roared with laughter. He asked who they’d come to see. “GUIGNOL!!!!!”
The story was simple, silly, and pulled them all right into it. Us, too. We all loved Guignol.
For some reason, maybe because I told him when we bought our tickets that grandparents love puppet shows, too, he invited us to take a photo with him and Guignol after the show. I couldn’t have been more excited if I’d been five years old.
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I'm absolutely in awe of M. Andre Guerin and Guignol! |
M. Guerin must be in his 60’s and the hour show had to be exhausting. Fortunately, his brother is also a puppeteer and has a son and grandchildren who are already learning to build the puppets. If you ever get to Bordeaux, please do yourself the favor of catching Guignol. Meanwhile, check out the videos on www.guignolguerin.fr.