Main basse sur la Joconde, Theatre performance at Parc Asterix in Plailly, France
Main basse sur la Joconde is a live action show at Parc Asterix in Plailly, north of Paris, where actors and stunt performers stage a heist set aboard a cargo ship. The set is built around a full-scale replica of a freighter docked in a port, with a railway track running through the scene.
The show opened at Parc Asterix in 1996, with several years of interruption since. Its plot borrows loosely from two unrelated real events: the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre on 21 August 1911, recovered two years later in Italy, and the painting's 1963 loan to the National Gallery in Washington and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The 1,500 m² stage, its port railway and the freighter backdrop cost 40 million francs.
The story follows Marcel, a clumsy painter who accidentally gets caught up in a heist and ends up saving the day. The show mixes physical comedy and chase scenes in a way that works for children and adults alike.
The seating area is covered and can hold a large crowd, so sightlines are generally good even from the back rows. Arriving a few minutes early is a good idea, as the front seats fill quickly on busy days.
Some of the stunt sequences involve real pyrotechnic charges fired on stage a short distance from the audience. The heat and smoke from those effects reach the front rows, giving the show a physical dimension that is rare in a park setting.
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