Object theatre

Visniec Matéi

Pau Donatella

Uilenspiegel Tijl

Lach Friedhelm

Guignol embarks on a hot-air balloon set for the Moon, in order to escape poverty and make his fiancée’s dreams come true. The balloon takes him first to the Mer de Glace (a glacier in France), then close to the Sun, and finally to the Moon. Guignol is captured by the guards. But when he meets the king of the Moon, he succeeds in convincing him that it would be more profitable for him to keep him as an ally, since he could establish trades between the Moon and the Earth. Guignol also shows the king the power of firearms, which are manufactured on Earth. Firearms being a lot more effective than the low-tech weapons of the Moon, Guignol promises the king that they will help him subdue an enemy neighbour. He is then appointed general. Gnafron and Madelon eventually travel to the Moon too, and the play ends with a feast.

France

Lyon

First page of the handwritten manuscript of Guignol dans la Lune

Pièce féerique en 8 tableaux

Guignol dans la Lune

Armed rod marionette

Amorós Antonio

A series of so-called Puppenspiele (puppet plays) had been published as early as 1770, including those by important authors such as Johann Wolfgang Goethe or Johann Friedrich Schink. As different as the authors were, their texts had one thing in common: they were far from suitable for the stage of the time, and even less for the marionette stage. Real puppet plays required an understanding of the puppet stage on the part of the author and - even more important – a puppeteer who recognized the opportunities of this collaboration. Johann Georg Geisselbrecht was a marionette player with ten years of experience of independent work in 1800 and a two-hundred-year-old theatre tradition behind him. With Geisselbrecht’s death in 1826, the thread between the puppeteers and literature was broken for now - and with it a serious production of puppet plays. Only with Franz Pocci and the Munich marionette player Joseph Leonhard Schmid was this delicate bond tied again until artistic puppetry broke new ground in the 20th century.

Poets of the puppet booth. Johann Georg Geisselbrecht and the beginnings of literary puppetry in the German-speaking area

Bear

Bien

Black and white

Child soldier

Domination

Fake news

Femme fatale

Hypocrisy

La Flûte enchantée

Loneliness

Play on words

Princess

Promise

Resentment

Ring

Sheep

Social ascension

Test

Thor's hammer

Voyant

Biblioteca comunale dell'archiginnasio

Huma-Num

IdRef

Isidore

Jagiellonian Library

Münchner Stadtmuseum

Musée de la Vie Wallonne

Musée des Arts de la Marionnette - Gadagne

Nakala

Pôle International de la Marionnette – Jacques Félix

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Université Haute Alsace

The show is divided into two parts. In the first part, Joseph and Mary arrive at Tirisiti's inn, who refuses to give them shelter. This is followed by the traditional episodes of the angel’s appearance, the nativity, the adoration of the shepherds and the Magi. During the flight to Egypt, the Holy Family finds refuge under a palm tree which conceals them from the eyes of their pursuers. The Captain of the soldiers interrogates the farmers who tell him that they saw the fugitives passing by while they were sowing. At that moment, the wheat sprouts miraculously, confusing the soldiers who give up the pursuit. The tree opens its palms and reveals the Holy Family who continue on their way.
The second part, the one with secular action, is divided in six scenes with situations and characters from Alcoy. The Night watchman announces the time and wakes up the characters one after the other. Tirisiti comically presents the local community on its way to mass. An old man argues with the altar boy who holds the church door. Tirisiti sends his wife Tereseta to mass, who exchanges a kiss with the sacristan, but the crowd warns her husband about it. The community leaves the church at the end of the mass, while Tirisiti is repeating his comments. A bull appears and threatens Tirisiti. The famous bullfighter Clásico makes some bullfighting passes in front of Tirisiti who boasts that he can do better than him. A chase begins between the bull and Tirisiti. The bells ring, announcing the march of Moors and Christians who come forward, as in the traditional Alcoy festival. The city's patron saint, Saint Jordi, appears on top of the castle. Tirisiti decides to leave the city, packs his bags and leaves for the Moon in a hot-air balloon. But the hot-air balloon bursts and Tirisiti falls with it.

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