Guignol Et Le Concours De Coups De Bâton - Théâtre La Maison De Guignol, Lyon

At THEATRE LA MAISON DE GUIGNOL, a living heritage on stage

From our vantage point inside THEATRE LA MAISON DE GUIGNOL, we welcome audiences into the beating heart of Lyon’s most cherished stage tradition. As the venue dedicated to the character born in this city, we curate seasons that keep the wit, rhythm, and craftsmanship of Guignol alive for new generations. Our artistic team continues to refine the repertoire with fresh dramaturgy, nimble stage direction, and exquisite hand-carved puppets, while preserving the quick-fire repartee and social bite that made the hero famous. In recent months, we have emphasized vivid scenography, agile live sound, and a tempo of play that invites lively audience reactions—those joyous gasps and warnings from children that are part of the experience. The result is a program that balances heritage with invention: school matinees that reveal the mechanics and poetry of the castelet, weekend family performances that buzz with laughter, and evenings for curious adults eager to rediscover how satire, music cues, and a well-timed bâton can still speak eloquently to our times.

Guignol et le Concours de Coups de Bâton at THEATRE LA MAISON DE GUIGNOL

Guignol et le Concours de Coups de Bâton flourishes on our stage as a spirited romp that magnifies everything audiences love about the Lyonnais hero: his quick tongue, his sense of justice, and his incomparable timing with a stick. In this caper, a brash contest of bravado sets the scene for misunderstandings, blustering authority, and the cheeky resourcefulness that defines our protagonist. Expect the familiar world of the public square to burst into action, with Gnafron’s mischievous wisdom, Madelon’s clear-eyed pragmatism, and a figure of officious order or two who will discover—always comedically—that bluster is no match for wit. The play’s energy thrives on audience interplay: children shout warnings, grown-ups catch the double entendres, and everyone delights in the musical punctuation that accentuates the slapstick. While the bâton is central to the joke, the staging leans on suggestion and rhythm rather than force, ensuring the fun remains playful and family-friendly. Our puppeteers fine-tune the physical vocabulary of each character—nimble footwork, sly bows, flicks of the hat—so every beat reads crisply from the first row to the back of the house. With polished lighting and quick scene shifts behind the proscenium, the contest evolves into a whirlwind of mischief that still lands softly on the tradition’s abiding values: solidarity, cleverness, and a sturdy sense of right and wrong.

Presenting this piece in THEATRE LA MAISON DE GUIGNOL gives it a special resonance. The intimacy of our room centers the crackle of call-and-response, and the acoustics allow the puppeteers’ voices to play like instruments—broad and buoyant for the youngest spectators, textured and sly for attentive adults. This season, our resident team is deepening the musical palette with brisk percussive accents and subtle melodic motifs that underline the rhythms of the contest, while new costume details and refreshed paintwork on the set brighten every entrance. We remain committed to making the show accessible to visitors from beyond Lyon: even without fluent French, audiences can follow the action through the clarity of movement, the visual humor, and the unmistakable signals of the guignolesque game. Families, school groups, and curious travelers often tell us they arrive for the laughter and leave having touched a piece of living heritage. That is precisely why we host Guignol et le Concours de Coups de Bâton with particular pride: it embodies the pulse of our city’s popular theater and the forward momentum of an art form that has never stopped renewing itself on our stage.