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The Laugh Factory? Humor and Horror at Le Théâtre du Grand Guignol Felicia J. Ruff Jean Aragny and Francis Neilson’s Le baiser de sang opens with the following stage direction and dialogue: [Professor Leduc and Dr. Volguine are wearing surgical masks as the curtain rises. Stage right, dressed head to foot in white, the Male Nurse stands next to the trolley. . . . The Patient is a bald man. He is in pain, in spite of the chloroform, stirring and crying out from time to time. A cross-shaped incision has been made on the forehead above the right eye. The flaps of skin are clipped back so that the frontal bone of the skull is exposed. Holes have been drilled in the trepanning drill. Everybody is leaning over, with outstretched necks, and attentively following the Professor ’s every move.] prof. leduc. It’s no good. It’s not going to work. The lesion means that I’m going to have to drill here . . . and not here after all . . . there’s no alternative . dr. volguine. That’s the most resistant spot. leduc. Yes. A compress . . . and another . . . and another one . . . a swab . . . how’s his pulse? volguine. Very weak. leduc. What about his legs? Are they cold? volguine. Very cold. leduc. (raising his eyelids, then raising his eyes upwards): I only hope he’s not going to give us any trouble with his circulation like the Dutchman the other day. Get the caffeine ready, a small amount. (The Male Nurse bustles about.) Swab! (He begins to drill. The Patient stirs.) Just a moment ! (The Professor stops drilling. Volguine hands him a stethoscope. He listens.) This is bad . . . give him a jab immediately. (He listens) This is bad. 66 F E L I C I A J . R U F F (Volguine gives an injection.) Let’s do this quickly. (He succeeds in drilling the hole. The Patient groans almost silently. The Professor hands back the stethoscope.) All done. volguine. I can’t feel a pulse. Within seconds they pronounce the patient dead, lamenting that “he was brought in . . . ten minutes too late.”1 A man has just died, a scenario that seems poorly designed to prompt laughter. Truth be told, however, I laughed really hard when I saw the play performed this fall by a New York company, Blood Brothers, and not because it was poorly done. Quite the contrary. When I found myself laughing, which I did several times during the scenes of graphic violence, I immediately had these reflexive moments, “What does this say about me?” and “What must my friend think of me?” Originally, the play debuted in 1929 as part of Le Théâtre du Grand Guignol’s season . This notorious French theatre remains famous for having staged plays of horror that featured scenes of graphic violence. Today the term Grand Guignol has evolved into an adjective, accurately conjuring images of blood and gore. But this company of artists, who entertained through scenes of strangling, limb-severing, disemboweling, and maiming , among numerous other tortures, deliberately incorporated laughter into the macabre entertainment. Grand Guignol is perhaps an appropriately bizarre topic in an academic consideration of comedy; however, Grand Guignol merits serious study because this horror theatre employed comedy and laughter very strategically. Like a variety show, a night at the Grand Guignol featured at least three or four short plays; from Grand Guignol’s inception, a night’s performance featured scenes of horror alternating with one-act comedies. The integration of comedy was designed to offer more than simple comic relief. Grand Guignol is a theatre of extremes, most especially extreme emotional states, and by comingling fear and laughter, the theatre artists manipulate the audience. A term was designated that summarized the emotional roller coaster an audience member experienced : douche ecossaise, a hot and cold shower.2 An examination of the function of comedy at Le Théâtre du Grand Guignol from historical, performative, and generic perspectives raises the specter of the relationship between humor and horror. Since this performance tradition consciously strove to provoke laughter, important questions are raised regarding comedy and genre categories. A night at the Grand Guignol negotiates laughter and terror, bringing into...

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