He holds his 350 puppets “like the apple of (his) eye”. But the manager of the Guignol theater in Champ-de-Mars was asked to leave the premises before the Olympic Games and fears not being able to return to his theater after the summer. 500 m from the Eiffel Tower, it is in the rain that Julien Sommer opens his door to around thirty parents and children for an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast in Guignol style, a timeless hero since the 19th century.
On this Wednesday, families sit on the benches of the small 150-seat room, built in 1978 by his mentor Luigi Tirelli, who popularized this live show via television in the 1970s. The castelet itself dates from 1902. On this ancient stage behind which he has worked since he was 15, Julien Sommer, 38, brings his puppets back to life twice a day on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays during school term, and seven days a week during the holidays.
But at the beginning of January, he received “by registered letter” a letter from the Paris town hall announcing the termination of his concession on March 31. Reason, the work planned by the organizing committee of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games (from July 26 to September 8) on the esplanade, where the beach volleyball and blind football events will take place.
Lasting six years, the contract was initially scheduled to end at the end of November. “I knew well, with the Olympics, that I was going to have to close but the trauma is the termination, downright, and not having any perspective for the future. It’s scary,” said the puppeteer.
Contacted by AFP, the town hall points out that a new concession requires a call for tenders, the “reopening of competition” being a “mandatory legal process”. The Champ-de-Mars Parisian Puppet Theater, its official name, is not the only children’s business affected on the esplanade. A small karting must also leave at the end of March, while a carousel with wooden horses, presented as “the oldest carousel in Paris”, and a tavern with century-old swings have already had to close shop on Monday.
From now on, fences surround them, like all the lawns in the perspective, thus protected to regain their splendor in view of the global event. The Friends of Champ-de-Mars, the neighborhood association, are “shocked by (these) measures taken in a brutal manner,” summarizes its president Jean d’Izarny-Gargas, emphasizing the “heritage interest” of the theater.
The parents do not hide their anger. Thus Lauren Carraud, who deplores the “sad spectacle of barricades and construction sites” and would prefer “to see the eyes of our children shine”. Guignol, “it’s an institution in the neighborhood,” says Emmanuelle Vonceslau, 48, who came with her two daughters aged 6 and 8. “It would be a shame if it closed because it’s beautiful and the kids love it.” As for Gustave, 4 years old, grandson of Karima Chauvalon, 63 years old, the closure “makes him sad”, says his grandmother.
Julien Sommer, who creates his costumes like his shows, explains that he earns an average of 2,000 euros per month from his activity “before taxes”. For six months “I can’t work”, summarizes the manager, who will also have to rent a space to store “decors, lighting, equipment, benches”…
On Wednesday, the town hall told AFP that the three businesses, including the Guignol theater, whose agreement was terminated earlier than expected “could be compensated”. For all businesses, “work has been undertaken so that they can set up during the Games period in alternative sites, after competitive bidding,” she adds.
“New commercial operating sites will be proposed” after the Games so “that these activities can be carried out there again”, continues the municipality, again after “competition”. “This theater is my life,” says Julien Sommer. “The only thing that matters is to come back and continue to make the children dream.”
