The Lovers of Croix-Rousse

Come and discover “The Lovers of Croix-Rousse”, a theatre play that transports you to the heart of the 18th century.

It is 1800 in Lyon. A young man who makes his living as a tooth-puller in public squares has just created a puppet he names Guignol. His role is to distract patients during the painful moment of extraction, but he is far from imagining that this character will gradually become a symbol of protest and social struggle.

Guignol’s reputation would quickly spread beyond all borders, and his adventures would rock generations — first of dissenters, then later of children. I imagined a story around this reality. A young puppeteer falls in love with a young seamstress in the Croix-Rousse district of Lyon. They dream of getting married, but the girl’s father, a gendarme, refuses to let her leave the family home. Out of the question, too, to introduce her suitor, who is wanted by the constabulary for subversion. They live their love in secret, and the young puppeteer creates the character of the gendarme to overcome his frustration.

Originally, Guignol was aimed at adults — he challenged those in power and denounced social injustice. He played an important role, for example, during the “Lyon Commune of 1871”, where he asserted himself as the symbolic figure of the revolutionary silk workers known as the “canuts”. He quickly became a symbol of protest, and for several decades, dissenting and anarchist newspapers bearing the name of Guignol flourished. His influence gradually waned, and it was only in the 1980s that the character found a second wind with a children’s audience, though in doing so he lost his true reason for being.

Written and directed by Patrick Chaboud

Cast (alternating) : Diane Delangre and Stefania Greco – Marc Laurent and Bastien Craninx – Stéphane Oertli and David Notebaert