puppet action.

Oh you never know what suprises the day will bring!

So, my buddy Steph's (a W&M kiddo on the UVA program) host mom, Madame Peugot, is a Marionette-ist. So last night, we went to see her perform!  If you were wondering, marionettes are a type of puppet. Apparently Lyon was pretty famous for them back in the day. It literally took us 40 minutes to walk to the theater, and then we thought it was the wrong place because all these buff guys were outside (very uncommon sight in france) because apparently it was a community center with a gym downstairs. hahaa. Anyways, the show was so random, and halarious, and amazing. 

Plot line: Male puppet with long, braided rat-tail invites various friends over to his house (about 6 to be exact) and then procedes to beat them with a large bâton (wooden stick) until they fall in agony to the ground. Then he picks them up and throws them outside in the poubelle (trash can).  Then everyone claps, and the pianist plays a little tune, everyone (minus us) sings this little song, and thats the end of Scene one! 

Then in scene two, the rat-tail puppet puts his belle-mere (mother-in-law) behind bars and stabs her with une grande forchette (a pitch fork). 

100% serious. Hahaha! It was great.

Let me remind you, these are puppets. The faces are carved out of wood, hand painted, and then dressed with handsewn clothes. And we are the only people under 65 in the entire theater. BAHAHAHAA!

Then they closed Scene Two with a catchy little song about mother-in-laws, brought out wine and salami for everyone to eat and mingle, and then Madame Peugot showed us around backstage!

The wall of marionettes. All are handmade by their puppetier! Pretty impressive.

Mme Peugot showing us how its done

Dear Mary Briggs - I wish you had been there. I got a really bad case of the giggles. It was bad. You know that creepy doll under the bunk beds at the cabin? Cross that with Harriet, and you got it. Bahahaha!