London's Grand Guignol and the Theatre of Horror

London's Grand Guignola macabre theatre of naturalistic horrorwas established in the early 1920s at the Little Theatre in the West End. Taking its cue from Le Theatre du Grand-Guignol in Paris, this high-profile venture enjoyed as much critical controversy as popular success. On its side were some of the finest actors of the English stage, such as Sybil Thorndike and Lewis Casson, as well as a team of extremely able writers, including the legendary Noel Coward.London's Grand Guignol and the Theatre of Horrorconsiders the importance and influence of the Grand Guignol within its social, cultural, and historical contexts, while presenting a selection of ten remarkable Grand Guignol plays, several of which were banned by the Lord Chamberlain, the censor of the day, and have never been publicly performedincluding a previously unpublished work by Coward. The companion volume toGrand-Guignol: The French Theatre of Horror, already in its third edition, this book is an essential addition to any gore-loving student of drama and the twentieth-century theatre of horror.

Richard J. Hand and Michael Wilson are professors of drama at the Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries. Together they have delivered workshops on Grand Guignol and presented Grand Guignol performances at universities, international conferences, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.