Guignol Puppet Show

During weekends and holidays, most French parks have a puppet show.  When it is time for the show, the puppeteer rings his bell and the kids come running.  We saw our first Guignol show, which was a version of Puss in Boots.  As you can see, we were not the only ones looking for vacation entertainment.



There is a lot of slapstick humor and most of the kids love it.  Every couple of minutes, somebody crashes into somebody else with a big bang.  There were several smaller children who were terrified and cried their way through the entire performance.  I, hater of clowns and dolls, would have probably been one of those kids.

 

The ogre made the little girl next to me cry even harder.

If you grew up watching Mister Roger's Neighborhood, like I did, the Land of Make Believe all of a sudden made a lot more sense.

Lady Elaine Fairchild looks just like the French puppets.  She is terrifying.

Lady Elaine Fairchilde (voiced by Fred Rogers) is an outspoken, cranky schemer who runs the Museum-Go-Round (after the Froggs moved out). Lady Elaine was often known to say "Okay, toots" and is generally the antagonist when a storyline calls for one. One of her prized possessions is her Boomerang-Toomerang-Zoomerang, with which she can turn the neighborhood upside-down. She first appeared in episode 5 of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and is named after Fred's adopted sister.