TRADITIONAL FRENCH PUPPETS

TRADITIONAL HAND PUPPET

• made of fabric for sifting flour• wooden head, rigid hands thanks to cuffs of fabric or leather, no

legs• head is manipulated by the index finger, arms – by the thumb and

any other finger. • puppeteer plays while standing with their hands lifted

GUIGNOL

• renowned French puppet created in Lyon by Laurent Mourguet (1808).

• Comic trio in French comic puppet theater: Guignol, his friend Gnafon and his wife Madelon. There is also a gendarme.

• Guignol is the spokesperson of simple people• naïve and sharp at the same time, honest and without scruples, funny and generous• a loyal friend, a bon vivant, who loves food and good wine• uses a wooden stick to give villains a good thrashing.

MADELON

• Guignol’s wife, nicknamed "Mère la Grogne" (Mother Grumble) because of her sour temper.• laundrywoman, talkative, tightfisted and often gets a beating.

• In 1965, in Guignol’s birthplace - Lyon, the theatre La Maison de Guignol opened its doors and performs plays all year long

POLICHINELLE

• very famous puppet, adopted in 17th century from Italian comedia dell’arte• buffoon character - sharp and sometimes cruel, may be a lier, colourful clothes.• no respect to any authority whatsoever

ESMERALDA• in V. Hugo’s “Notre Dame de Paris” (1831)

Esmeralda is a young beautiful gipsy dancer who dances in the streets of Paris

• gipsy tribes who had settled in the territory of France for centuries before were thought of as free vagabonds gathered around a camp fire, as violinists or “chicken stealers”

• gipsy women – as clairvoyants or femmes fatales, certainly arose a lot of fascination.

Little Red Riding hood• tale in French oral tradition recorded by Charles Perrault, in collection

“Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals” (1697)

• heroine is a pretty, well brought up girl who, on the way to her grandmother, meets a wolf and gives him directions as to her granny’s place

SNOW WHITE• heroine of a tale in Germanic oral tradition• written down by many tale writers: Charles Perrault

(1697), Giambattista Basile (1634-1636), the Brothers Grimm (1854).

• orphan princess becomes the most beautiful young girl of the kingdom, her skin is as white as snow, her hair is as dark as ebony, and her lips as red as blood.

• is taken in by seven dwarfs as she flees from her stepmother’s designs to kill her.

NICOLAS & PIMPRENELLE• Nicolas (blue) and Pimprenelle (pink) are two children

characters from a French evening TV series that started in 1962 • aim - to help young children to go to bed• Before bedtime the Bear visits two children, inquires about

their day, their worries, or tells a story. Then he says “Good night, my little ones, sweet dreams” .The Bear returns to the cloud he had come from where he joins the Merchant of Sand

• a handful of golden sleep sand falls on the children’s heads, Nicolas and Pimprenelle fall asleep.

CINDERELLA

• “Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper” is a popular triumph tale, written down by Charles Perrault, Giambattista Basile, the Brothers Grimm• Thanks to her virtues Cindrella

rises from ashes to the throne

PUPPET TRADITION IS ALIVE IN FRANCE• In 1972 creation of the puppet theater world festival in Charleville-

Mézieres

• the International Puppet Institute ESNAM (école nationale supérieure des arts de la marionnette) 1987 in Charleville-Mézières

• 1996 inauguration of Villa d’Aubilly, a place of residence for researchers and creators• a great number of theater, dance and circus companies

in France use the puppet• Evolution of actor-puppeteer-focused innovative

pedagogics in the contemporary puppet theater

In Lyon Musée des Marionnettes du Monde founded in 2009

exposition of puppet collections from different parts of the world.

•On the TV channel Canal+ the Guignols present a satirical overview of international and domestic events• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyoptywYhIU