<p>Guignol’s aunt has recently died. She has left him “L’Auberge des Adrets”, a dilapidated inn set remotely in the mountains. Guignol’s cousin, Martin, is staying there and waiting for Guignol to arrive, but he is uneasy: it is rumoured that the building is haunted, and a hiding place for outlaws on the run. Guignol arrives on Christmas Eve and Martin returns to the village. While Guignol inspects the place, Gnafron and Cadet walk into the inn – unbeknown to Guignol. The two friends have come to rehearse a horror scene for a film on a thieving gang that used to steal from isolated houses and kill their residents. Guignol tries to sleep on an old mattress, but he is repeatedly bothered – by a mouse, a spider, a cat, then two snakes, all living in the shack. Gnafron and Cadet rehearse the scene in which they kill the innkeeper. Guignol hears them and believes that they want to murder him. In the dark, he then pretends to be a ghost, to scare them away. Gnafron and Cadet are scared at first, but they finally recognise their friend Guignol. The three of them make a toast and wish one another a merry Christmas.</p>

Glove-puppet

France

Lyon

Printed

Inheritance

Christmas Eve

Phantom

Fear

Snake

Robber

Fake ghost

Talking cinema

Haunted house

Christmas

Comical

Fantastic

French

ou l'Auberge des fantômes

Guignol

Gnafron

Cadet

Monologue

Rehearsal (play within a play)

Dramatic irony

Disguise

Final song

Comedy of language

Le Noël de Guignol

Guignol’s Christmas or The Inn of the ghosts