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Thrillpeddlers presents
"Audacious Artefacts: Parisian Grand Guignol"
A Spectacle of Terror and Laughter
Thrillpeddlers is proud to announce the first production of their 2009 season, “Audacious Artefacts: Parisian Grand Guignol,” which will include four terror plays and sex farces from the repertory of the famed Parisian Théâtre du Grand Guignol. The show will be presented on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., March 12 through May 2, at Thrillpeddlers’ Hypnodrome, 575 10th Street, San Francisco.
“The Head Hunters,” a late entry into the genre from 1958, concerns the disappearance of ethnologist Philippe Roujan into the jungles of French Guiana with only an escapee from Devil’s Island as his guide. Alarmed and concerned about his uncertain fate, the young man’s father and fiancée travel from Paris to Amazonia, guided only by the girl’s unfaltering belief in the questionable science of Radiesthesia, a method of locating the missing man through psychic means. Among the formidable obstacles they encounter are a ferocious tribe of headhunters, poison arrows, cannibalism, foul venomous beasts, and the oppressive sights, sounds, and sensations of the South American jungle.
“Private Room Number 6,” a revenge drama from 1907 along the lines of Death and the Maiden, takes place back in Paris at the Rat Mort, a celebrated nightspot with a shady reputation. A sadistic, dipsomaniacal Russian general gets more than he bargained for when he invites a young “working girl” from the Rue de la Paix for a midnight liaison in one of the notorious brothel’s private dining rooms.
“Tics, or Doing the Deed,” from 1906, is a sex farce that draws its humor from a very peculiar premise. Two country gentlemen involved in a bit of illicit wife-swapping, as well as a hapless male domestic, all develop peculiar physical tics after “doing the deed.” An episode of unbridled hilarity ensues, as only the French could envision.
Fleshing out the program will be “The Discipline,” a morsel of eighteenth-century erotica involving two young Catholic novices and the convent gardener, which will feature the Thrillpeddlers’ first-ever erotic spookshow. Due to the adult nature of this presentation, absolutely no one under the age of eighteen will be admitted.
Pairs of patrons will surely enjoy Hypnodrome’s Shock Box seats for two, which garnered SF Weekly’s “Best of San Francisco 2008” for “Best Bonus Theater Experience.” These themed seats include sumptuous Turkish Lounges, as well as private boxes including “Heaven” and “Hell,” “Pharaoh’s Tomb,” and “Padded Cell,” which offer the same opportunity for illicit trysting that was once a feature of the Parisian Théâtre du Grand Guignol—with added special effects as a nod to the 1950s horror movie gimmicks of William Castle.
A variety of press photos and interviews are available on request by contacting Russell Blackwood at 415-377-4202 or blackwood@thrillpeddlers.com.
Attention Calendar Editors:
Thrillpeddlers presents “Audacious Artefacts: Parisian Grand Guignol,” terror plays and sex farces from the repertory of the famed Parisian institution of the early twentieth century.
Previews March 12, 13, and 14. Opening Thursday, March 19, and then continuing Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through May 2, 2009 at the Hypnodrome, 575 10th Street (between Bryant and Division), San Francisco.
Tickets available at www.brownpapertickets.com (800-838-3006)
$15 - $30 general admission
$69 for “Shock Box” seats (admits two)
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