Grand Guignolers: past shows


photo by Mark Benningto
n
Absinthe, Opium & Magic: 1920s Shanghai

Cabinet of Hands
photo by Mark Bennington
Kevin Dulude & Elyse Ashton in The Cabinet of Hands from Absinthe, Opium and Magic, 1920s Shanghai

AN EVENING OF GRAND GUIGNOL with the Dell'Arte Players August 2011 at Cal State Summer School for the Arts and Hollywood.

LA Drama Critic's Circle Award Show - Spring 2011. performance by invite of the LA Drama Critic's Circle upon receipt of honorary award for special effects (Chris Bell) for Absinthe Opium and Magic: 1920s Shanghai. We accepted with a decapitation.

ABSINTHE OPIUM AND MAGIC: 1920s SHANGHAI
Nov.2009-May 2010. MORE INFO, REVIEWS & FEATURE ARTICLES
Three month sold out run at ArtWorks Theatre, co-produced with [via] Corpora then a month at The Actors' Gang by their invitation and artistic director, Tim Robbins. LA Weekly GO!, LA Times Critic's Choice, Ovation Recommended. This
original production featured a 1920s luxury cruise to Shanghai, with Sing Song Girls (Chinese geishas) and brawling gangsters in Sing Song Girl Sings Last Song, blood and opium in a Grand Guignol piece, The Cabinet of Hands, and magic, absinthe, a Chinese lion and an evil rabbit in The Sorcerer's Apprentice based on the Goethe story. Les Petits Guignolers performed hypnosis, blood and eroticism. Pre-show onboard festivities included absinthe & tea, photo booth, and entertainment.

Summer 2008: Grand Guignolers present A Grand Guignol Christmas show at the Cal State Summer School for the Arts per invitation.

A GRAND GUIGNOL CHILDREN'S SHOW* (*NOT For Children) December 2008 with co-producer [via] Corpora at ArtWorks Theatre. The show enjoyed a sold out extended 3 month run. Celebrating its namesake, this adult children's show is a 200th birthday party for the beloved French puppet, Guignol, usurped by cousin, Punch. It presents traditional folk tales in pre-Grimm forms: Hansel and Gretel: a Horror Play, Little Red Riding Hood: a Horror Play, The Ugly Duckling: a Melodrama Ballet and Rapunzel: An Erotic Thriller (by petits guignolers). LA Weekly GO! MORE INFO, & REVIEWS

A VERY GRAND GUIGNOL CHRISTMAS
November 2007
.
MORE INFO, REVIEWS & FEATURE ARTICLES
An
LA Times critics choice and part of the first Los Aangeles Physical Theatre Arts Festival, co-produced by [via] Corpora. The show included original physically based clown/mine/dance material in Dance Macabre, dance, les petits guignolers, and classic Grand Guignol plays: the farce, These Cornfields and the classic horror play, The Laboratory of Hallucinations. The show enjoyed a sold out run.

THE FINAL KISS & A CRIME IN THE MADHOUSE
June 2007 MORE INFO & REVIEWS
The first show presented An Evening of Grand Guignol at Moth with classic Grand Guignol plays The Final Kiss and A Crime in the Madhouse and the premiere of les petits guignolers (French finger puppets) in The Kiss of Death at Moth, Hollywood.