Theatre On Call: Participatory fainting and Grand-Guignol theatre

Abstract

This short piece examines the idea of the fainting spectator, drawing on the work of one of the twentieth century's most successful ‘theatre[s] of horror’, the Parisian Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, particularly during the artistic directorship of Max Maurey from 1898 to 1914. Maurey, during this period, encouraged an escalation of the visual aspect of the graphically representative violence for which the Grand-Guignol had become known since its inception in 1897, speculating that increased audience stimulation would have a similar effect on box office figures. A significant aspect of the response to Maurey's idea was the frequent fainting of audience members, who became physically overwhelmed at such a rate that Maurey, delightedly and very publicly, hired an in-house doctor in order to aid the increasing numbers of spectators who appeared to require medical assistance. My discussion of this phenomenon at the Grand-Guignol aims to raise questions regarding the increasingly participatory nature of this apparently uncontrollable corporeal act. I hope to show how the emphasis placed on fainting by the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol during this period shifts preconceptions about an involuntary bodily reaction momentarily in the direction of audience performance, encouraging us to think of the corporeal reality of the faint in a different way. Furthermore, the piece's conclusion will speculate that fainting at the Grand-Guignol can be seen as a movement in the direction of synchronization: the physical response to what was apparently unwatchable allowing both spectator and director to develop additionally strategic behaviours, far from the one-sided overpowering of audience members to which our assumptions might otherwise adhere.

Notes

¹ There is some debate over the use of guignoleurs rather than guignolers to refer to these spectators at the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol. Hand and Wilson refer to guignoleurs as ‘a linguistically more logical form’ (2002: 69), and therefore I am electing to use this form.

² The hyphenated form of ‘Grand-Guignol’ will appear throughout this article. This corresponds to work in both French and English on Grand-Guignol over the past twenty years. However, if quoting material in which the non-hyphenated form is used, I will quote verbatim with no adjustments.

³ My translation: She has fainted. He has fainted.