Le Puy du Fou

Abstract

The Puy du Fou. The Puy du Fou show was started in 1977, on the site of a château in the Bocage of the Vendée, by an aristocrat of a neigh-bouring commune. Although it has some features in common with other activities designed to exploit a cultural heritage, and although it takes its place in an educational entreprise two hundred years old, this show is the centrepiece of a large-scale cultural setup, the particularity of which lies in the strong belief in its uniqueness. On-stage, the show purpots to be a free creation based on the history of the Vendée, with the Counter-Revolution of 1793 as its highlight and culminating in I9th century rural society. In the wings, the amateur actors gather into «villages», which the division into administrative communes still respects, so that the mythical Vendée and the real Vendée are closely intertwined. The whole production provides the conditions for the collective creation of the Puyfolais (as the actors call themselves), the perfect embodiment of the native of the Vendée, combining loyalty to the values of the past with at least formal acceptance of modem society. Performed by «the people» for the sake of the cause defended by their ancestors, the Puy du Fou spectacle becomes the most authentic symbol of the whole of the Vendée. As its creator's commitments develop, so the spectacle takes on new meanings which can be exploited by him on other -especially political- stages, first local and then national.

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