Thrillpeddlers is a San Francisco theatre company specializing in 'Grand Guignol' horror plays, fetish performance, and lights-out spookshows. We've been adapting and performing classic plays from the French Grand Guignol theatre for over 15 years, and are recognized as America's leading authorities on Grand Guignol interpretation and performance. Our annual "Shocktoberfest" has become a San Francisco Halloween tradition, and our one-of-a-kind Hypnodrome theatre is home to music, video, spoken-word and theatrical performances all year-round.
Writer Kelli Stanley blogs about a preview performance of our new show, “Flaming Sin: London’s Grand Guignol.” She summarizes her in-depth review this way:
So even if you’re not particularly a fan of the Vault of Horror, troop down to the Hypnodrome on 10th street in San Francisco — for a twenty dollar seat, you’ll get a night of rich entertainment: a scintillating and brilliantly-directed new Noel Coward confection, and a stomach-churning, over-the-top George Romero-style French classic. How can you miss?
It’s great to see that audiences coming for the Noel Coward can also appreciate our more ‘traditional’ Grand Guignol fare. Good theatre is good theatre, right?
As the April 1st release date nears, the first reviews of Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd DVD are starting to hit the web. Why do we care? Thrillpeddlers are featured in the documentary Grand Guignol: A Theatrical Tradition included on the 2-disc collector’s edition. It looks like the DVD producers did an excellent job of lining up some truly interesting bonus features, and it’s great to see that they’re getting some good press.
Disc two includes a fine collection of featurettes that cover specific elements of the SWEENEY production, as well as the tale’s background. The latter are actually of the greatest interest, as Sweeney’s London takes a look at the squalid side of the city’s history, along the way revealing the gruesome origins of the traditional barber pole, while Sweeney Alive: The Real History of the Demon Barber chronicles the character through historian and author interviews and vintage illustrations. (It’s pointed out here that the villain was partially inspired by 16th-century Scottish cannibal Sawney Bean, who also influenced THE HILLS HAVE EYES and other contemporary chillers, and that the flesheating which some might find SWEENEY’s most shocking element was actually a staple of many traditional fairy tales.) Grand Guignol: A Theatrical Tradition takes a fascinating look at the famous French showcase for onstage gore, noting its origins as “naturalist” drama, its influence on early Hollywood fright fare and how it fell out of favor in the wake of the horrors of WWII.
Can’t wait to see it (and find out if any of my interview made it into the final cut). I’ll post a full write-up on the Grand Guignol featurette as soon as my copy arrives.
Thrillpeddlers proudly presents the 2008 Hypnodrome Valentine revue featuring Jill Tracy in concert with violinist Paul Mercer and our special guests V. Vale, Jello Biafra and Monte Cazazza!
February 12-17, 2008
Tuesday - Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 7:00 PM
At THE HYPNODROME
575 10th St.
(between Bryant and Division)
San Francisco, California [MAP]
Tickets: $20 general admission; $69 for SHOCK BOX seats (admits two).
With a diabolical nod to Valentine’s (and Presidents) Day, Thrillpeddlers presents a week-long line-up of live music and theatre, exquisite torture and expert testimony that all dare to touch the taboos that haunt these holidays. “Lovers and Other Monsters” celebrates the return of award-winning noir chanteuse Jill Tracy and acclaimed Atlanta violinist Paul Mercer (Faith and the Muse/The Changelings/DP3) back to The Hypnodrome stage, in concert and … each taking a leading role in a new dramatic work from Thrillpeddlers.
The rotating bill of scintillating (and sinister) entertainments also features V. Vale, founder and editor of Re/Search Publications conducting on stage interviews with industrial music maverick Monte Cazazza (on Friday, 2/15) and media prankster and Dead Kennedys founding front man Jello Biafra (on Saturday, 2/16), Thrillpeddlers previews new acts for 2008 and proudly debuts their latest collaboration with Creepshow Camp.
The Hypnodrome has got the perfect perch for Valentine couples our private Shock Box seats for two put a spookier spin on the old Parisian perk offering paramours a lodge-grille, the private trysting booths where you can see the show, but the show cant see you!. Our variation takes it to extremes! Each box boasts its own custom built special effects (a nod to the spooky gimmicks of director William Castle and the methods of fake spiritualists) and themed decor worthy of a haunted Madonna Inn.
Young devotees of Horror, Sci-Fi and Suspense have a summer camp to call their own! Creepshow Camps face “fright” with curiosity and creativity, revealing the secret techniques behind scary entertainments’ vitality and power. Workshops led by our dedicated staff of teaching artists engage participants, hands-on, in activities that teach and reinforce the fundamental skills of monster make-up, special effects, sleight of hand and stage combat. Campers will screen classic horror movies and rehearse on-stage at The Hypnodrome for a farewell performance given for family and friends at the end of every Creepshow Camp session.
Now Enrolling Kids Age 9 - 14 for both weekend and weekday day camp programs.
Here’s something that you don’t see every day: A first edition of Mel Gordon’s classic “Grand Guignol: Theatre of Fear and Terror” for sale on eBay. Judging from the photos, it looks like it’s in really nice condition.
This is the book that inspired us to stop simply dreaming about the Grand Guignol and actually start producing Grand Guignol plays. It features a good history of the theatre, summaries of many plays produced there, tons of great photos, and English translations of two Grand Guignol Plays, including Andre de Lorde’s “The Laboratory of Hallucinations,” which did not appear in the second edition of the book.
Click through to the auction to see all the photos and read the seller’s description. Please note that we don’t know the seller and can’t personally vouch for him/her, but they have 100% positive feedback and 1,000+ transactions. They’re also selling a huge collection of rare magic books which look really interesting.
If you’re a Grand Guignol enthusiast, you’ll want to have this book in your collection. It doesn’t come up for sale too often. The auction ends on January 30th, so get your bid in early.
On Saturday June 2nd we bid adieu to Hypnodrome Head Trips. Bittersweet as it was to say goodbye to the Head Trips company, fans and our favorite roles, I couldn’t have asked for a better closing night performance and party. We had a full house that included some very special folks. My Dad, Jim Blackwood, is in town for a month from Santa Fe and we’re doing a complete overhaul on the Shock Box seats (look for a feature story in September’s Stage Directions magazine). Shock Box progenitor and dear friend, Dan Corr, paid his respects twice in a row and gave us a gorgeous poster from a flick called Two for the Guillotine starring Connie Stevens and Caesar Romero. Logging nine performances since the Valentine’s Day preview, our good friends Susan and Geoff took one last Trip with us.
Enhancing the thrill of it all was having Jello Biafra and his girlfriend Anne Marie sitting in the front row for the show and merrymaking with us until the wee hours. Anyone who thrashed through their youth to the music of The Dead Kennedys knows what a treat it was to have him there. I was delighted to see that our crew, Gonzo, T.J. and Will (all roughly twenty years Jim and my juniors), were as excited to sing Bohemian Rhapsody with Jello as we were!
Jello loves Chick Tracts! He counts Jack Chick as his favorite cartoonist. His favorite, Bewitched, was a mainstay of our Chick Habit repertoire. Jello attended our first production, Welcome to the Hypnodrome, and he was quick to comment on how far we’ve come in the past three years working non-stop at the drome.
Since closing the show, we’ve been busy. The Shock Boxes are stripped to the bone (the Egyptian Tomb themed box is alraedy taking shape). We’re also hard at work on preparing for the Creepshow Camps, hosting a co-production for the San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Films with Dead Channels, planning our 4th Bastille Day event with SFPALM, and getting a revised Empress of Colma tour ready for Burning Man. What a Summer!
Thrillpeddler Will Freitas scored a donation of two bottles of absinthe which he ably prepared and passed around to the audience. I tell ya, absinthe is strong! Will demonstrated two methods of preparing it to drink. Both with ice water, slotted spoon and sugar cubes, but only one that set the whole thing ablaze. As our guest of honor, Jonathan was given the flaming drink. His report, “Even stronger than the first one!”
If you’d like to hear about other special events at The Hypnodrome before they happen, sign up to receive our email newsletter on this site. Coming in June - Grand Guignol and Weimar Berlin historian Mel Gordon hosts the rarely seen English version of The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich and the premiere of dances re-created from Weimar’s cabarets with dancer/actress Bijou O’Keefe. Heir Ists Richtig!
It was certainly a thrill when Thrillpeddlers won the San Francisco Bay Guardian’s Best of the Bay Award for “Best Live Onstage Bloodbath” in 2004. Not ones to rest on our laurels, Thrillpeddlers recently campaigned for - and won - SF Weekly’s Best of San Francisco 2007 Reader’s Poll for “Best Theatre Company!” With more than 120 SF-based companies on the roster of Theatre Bay Area (Northern California’s theatre services organization), that’s no small feat. Now granted, Thrillpeddlers’ glory was upstaged a bit by the Weekly’s editor’s own pick which went to SF Playhouse, but we all know the upperhand that the electoral vote has over the popular vote. We are, of course, pleased as punch that “the people have spoken” and we want to give a very special thanks to all of you who cast your ballots - for blood!
On Saturday morning everything seemed normal. Jim and I went at to breakfast at Luna in The Castro. It was crowded. The waiter divided a “four top” made up of two small tables, so the two gents next to us were sitting very close indeed. I couldn’t help but eavesdrop a bit, overhearing things like “Oh yeah, San Francisco has lots of theaters” and an occasional “Carey Perloff” or “A.C.T”. I didn’t have any Head Trips cards on me at the time and rather than piping up with “We have a horror theatre, boys!” I figured I’d eat now and face my regrets later. My partner Jim did the same - but not for long.
As fate would have it, we were at The Hypnodrome later that afternoon rehearsing the new play on the Head Trips bill, The Chaos Masquerade, when one of the men we sat next to at Luna knocked on the door and proceeded to buy tickets from Jim for that night’s performance. They made the Luna connection, Jim and I had a laugh and I, admittedly, teared up a bit at the wonder of it all. But there’s more …
That night at the show (where I work the door) the same guy introduces himself to me as “Tom”. I looked again at the will-call list where I saw Tom’s last name - “Derrah”. Well, I instantly recognized the name. Tom Derrah has been an actor in the resident company of American Repertory Theatre for years and well remember his excellent work and reputation all the way back to the mid-80s when I was an acting student at Boston University. I’ll be damned - upgrade that man the center Shock Box! He and his partner, John, had a blast!
Tom opens this week in a “penny dreadful” inspired Oliver Twist at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The production has already played American Rep and Theatre for a New City in New York to great acclaim. This may be one to see!
(Tom is the orphan boy on the far left-hand side of the photo.)
It came as no surprise to Thrillpeddler Heidi Wolff that spirit orbs appeared both on stage and off during a behind the scenes interpretive dance she shared with Head Trips cast members during Friday night’s performance of John Zorn’s Cobra. Miss Wolff has fed her mediumistic talents and love of “the dance” since she was just a small girl. The sprightly spheres of other-worldly energy appear distinctly in these photos on my partner Jim’s computer screen, but when I viewed the self-same photographs on my computer, they had disappeared. It’s as if the spirits knew I would expose them on my blog. Oh, my!
Spirit manifestations are becoming more common at the Hypnodrome these days. Be sure to let us know if you experience any supernatural phenomena while visiting our theater.
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February 12-17, 2008
Young devotees of Horror, Sci-Fi and Suspense have a summer camp to call their own! Creepshow Camps face “fright” with curiosity and creativity, revealing the secret techniques behind scary entertainments’ vitality and power. Workshops led by our dedicated staff of teaching artists engage participants, hands-on, in activities that teach and reinforce the fundamental skills of monster make-up, special effects, sleight of hand and stage combat. Campers will screen classic horror movies and rehearse on-stage at The Hypnodrome for a farewell performance given for family and friends at the end of every Creepshow Camp session.
Thrillpeddler Will Freitas scored a donation of two bottles of absinthe which he ably prepared and passed around to the audience. I tell ya, absinthe is strong! Will demonstrated two methods of preparing it to drink. Both with ice water, slotted spoon and sugar cubes, but only one that set the whole thing ablaze. As our guest of honor, Jonathan was given the flaming drink. His report, “Even stronger than the first one!” 
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