If you’re a fan of horror and/or theatre, you will inevitably
encounter the term grand guignol and, if you’re like me, wonder
what it means, and from where it comes. The French phrase grand
guignol has been absorbed into the English lexicon as a term to
describe any excessively gruesome and gory spectacle, but its
origins are much more specific than current usage suggests. Le
Théâtre du Grand-Guignol was a theatre founded in Paris by Oscar
Méténier in 1894. Operating for 65 years, it produced one-act
plays, many of which focused on violent and erotic works of
horror. The theatre was opened by Oscar Metenier, a writer and
police secretary, who created slice-of-life plays about the
Parisian underlife and stories of true crime. Metenier was a
follower of Naturalism: a movement in late 19th Century theatre
that attempted to create a perfect illusion of reality.
Naturalistic works often exposed the dark harshness of life,
with themes of poverty, racism, sex, prejudice, disease,
prostitution, and filth. After a cou