Destination Set Go: Theatre de Guignol

I was looking for something that might interest the kids a little bit more than museums or window shopping, and came upon a series of puppet theaters that are scattered across Paris. They are all patterned after the tradition of Laurent Mourguet, who created the original Guignol character, which the theatres are now named after. Mourguet began his adult life as a silk weaver and trader, but that profession dried up and he explored the field of dentistry - which during the late 1700's consisted mainly of pulling teeth and selling drugs to kill the pain afterward. To attract customers to his booth, he decided to create a hand puppet and put on mini-performances. Hand puppets were a new invention as most puppet shows involved the traditional marionettes controlled by strings.

Here in Paris, the shows are advertised as 'marionette' shows, so I was a bit disappointed when we arrived and the performers used hand puppets. I guess I should have done a bit more research first. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the show, which lasted about 30 minutes. Even though the children don't understand much French at all, they still understood most of the plot and had a great time.