Mon Premier Guignol - Le Théâtre La Maison De Guignol, Lyon

At SALLE 2 - THEATRE MAISON DE GUIGNOL: Welcoming Mon Premier Guignol

From our vantage point inside SALLE 2 - THEATRE MAISON DE GUIGNOL, we take particular pride in opening the doors to Mon Premier Guignol, a joyous initiation into Lyon’s most beloved puppet tradition. Our second space is intimate by design, with clear sightlines and carefully tuned acoustics that help young audiences hang on every word, every clap, and every burst of laughter. Here, the magic sits just an arm’s length away: the delicacy of gestures, the rhythm of repartee, and the playful mischief that has carried Guignol across generations. As custodians of this heritage, we curate the experience so that first-time spectators discover not only the characters and their humor, but also the living craft behind the curtain—hand-guided movement, precise timing, and the musicality of voices that make these figures feel unmistakably alive. Mon Premier Guignol gathers these elements into a compact, welcoming format that honors tradition while meeting families where they are today, inviting children and adults alike to respond, giggle, and team up with the heroes onstage. The result, in our room, is a kind of collective heartbeat: a shared discovery that sets the tone for a lifetime of theatergoing.

Mon Premier Guignol on our stage: spirit, craft, and a living repertoire

Mon Premier Guignol is conceived as a gateway—an encounter with Guignol’s world that balances warm familiarity with fresh sparkle. In SALLE 2 - THEATRE MAISON DE GUIGNOL, that balance plays out in lively dialogue, bright scenic colors, and a choreography of entrances and exits that keeps even the youngest focused and delighted. Without giving away the surprises, audiences can expect witty reversals, nimble verbal play, and plenty of moments where the room gets to cheer or cautiously warn a character. The pace is brisk, the humor generous, and the storytelling rooted in values that have long defined Guignol: resourcefulness, solidarity, and a pointed but gentle eye on everyday life. This spirit also frames the artistic activity of our in-house team. Season after season, our puppeteers develop new sequences and refreshed versions of classic scenes, always attentive to clarity for first-time viewers and to the musical phrasing that makes the repartee sing. We invest that same care in our staging—precise lighting cues that amplify expression, handcrafted figures that read beautifully from the front row to the back, and sound design that supports the voices without overpowering them. Mon Premier Guignol benefits from this ongoing work: it is both an introduction and a living chapter of a repertoire that keeps evolving just as the city around us does.

From a venue perspective, presenting Mon Premier Guignol is also about guiding the encounter. Our team welcomes families into SALLE 2 - THEATRE MAISON DE GUIGNOL with an emphasis on comfort and accessibility: thoughtful seating plans for small spectators, gentle pre-show ambiance to set the mood, and a performance rhythm calibrated so that young attention spans are not only respected, but joyfully engaged. We see how the show becomes a small rite of passage—children testing their voices in call-and-response, parents rediscovering the pleasure of collective laughter, and everyone leaving with the sensation of having shared something timeless yet new. The artistic momentum surrounding the company continues beyond these performances, with ongoing creation of family-friendly formats and regular revisiting of emblematic scenes so that each return visit reveals a different facet of the craft. Mon Premier Guignol, in our house, is thus more than a single outing: it is the welcoming threshold to a tradition that breathes, learns, and surprises. The puppeteers’ dexterity, the crisp narrative tempo, and the generous exchange with the room make it a fixture of our current programming and a signature way to experience the heart of Lyon’s theatrical imagination.