The sultan Achmet and his brother Mustapha deliberate over what to do with their Christian prisoners. Achmet wants to sacrifice some of them to the god Muhammad, while Mustapha advises him not to—because they were both rescued by Christians once. But the laws of the country require that Achmet sacrifice Christians. Casper, who diced the smallest number, will be sacrificed first. But he displays such stupidity that he is eventually spared. Then, Thorello dices the smallest number: he must therefore be sacrificed. The sultan recognises him as the prince who saved him in Pavia eight years before and so he sets him free. Jockerle, Casper’s son, comes to the palace to inquire about his father, on behalf of his mother. In fact, his mother, who remarried, only sent her son to rid herself of him; she hoped he would die during the journey. Jockerle explains that the princess Rosothea, Thorello’s wife, must also remarry. When Casper reunites with his master Thorello, whom he believed to be dead, he immediately tells him about his wife’s plan to remarry. The Sultan then offers Thorello one the women from his harem. Thorello refuses, and the sultan allows him to go back to Pavia, using magic; it will only take him twenty-four hours to reach it. Casper and Jockerle treat the magician so badly that they are forced to travel on the back of a dragon. In Pavia, the princess Rosothea laments her fate: she has been promised to the count Zittonio, but she would rather enter a convent than marry him. She learns that Thorello came back after being imprisoned for seven years; they reunite. Casper also reunites with Gretel; not recognising him, she speaks badly of him. When Casper slaps her, she goes fetch her new husband, Domerle. Jockerle sets Domerle’s clothes on fire. Then he and Casper pummel him.

String marionette

Not specified

Czechia

Prague

Manuscript

Magic

Dragon

Muslim

Christianity

Italy

Italy (north)

Turkey

Bigamy

Harem

Jail

Remarriage

Comical

Tragic

Farcical

Burlesque

Theaterzettel von Richard Dietze, Brand-Erbisdorf (Sachsen) um 1900

German

Torello von Pavia

Sultan

Turk

Vizir

Prince

Kasperl

Servant

Magician

Duchess

Count

Madame Kasperl

Haymaker

Janissary

Brawl

Scene of recognition

Flying machine

Pyrotechnics

Slaps

Sultan Achmet

Jason lands in Colchis with Teseu (Theseus) and an armed escort; he seeks to obtain the Golden Fleece. As he admires the King’s beautiful daughter, Medeia (Medea), and her cousin Creúsa, his servant Sacatrapo is coveting Arpia, Medeia’s servant. Sacatrapo, hidden inside a sideboard, overhears Medeia declaring her love for Jason to her servant. Jason promises to marry Medeia if she helps him find the Golden Fleece. But he is in love with Creúsa: he declares his love to his servant and entrusts him with inquiring into the young woman’s feelings. The King is sceptical about the motifs of Jason’s coming and asks Medeia to find out about his true intentions. Because Jason urges her to, Medeia carries him on a cloud to the enchanted garden. On Pegasus’s back, Jason enters the garden, where he fights against a fire-breathing dragon; laid down, the dragon disappears into flames. Medeia summons Sacatrapo thanks to a dragon who spits the servant out of its month. Casting her spells, she makes the flowers of the garden move and transforms them into nymphs (which Sacatrapo sees as donkeys). Jason confirms again that he loves Medeia, even though he is thinking about Creúsa. Jason is preparing to flee with Teseu and asks Sacatrapo to go fetch Creúsa. The servant tells the King that Jason stole the Golden Fleece from him. Medeia, abandoned, confides in Creúsa. The young women order Jason to explain himself. The King asks Medeia to vouch for Jason; she agrees. Sacatrapo meets Medeia: mistaking her for Creúsa during a night scene, he reveals that Jason is unfaithful. Furious, Medeia buries him slowly to feed the dragons with him, and replaces his head with a donkey’s. He must look for his head in the depths. Arpia fools Sacatrapo by promising that he will discover a donkey with golden droppings; this donkey is said to be kept by an ant. Sacatrapo is determined to kill the ant and steal the donkey using the hat given by Arpia, which should make him invisible. Medeia walks in on Creúsa and Jason during a romantic duo scene; she buries her rival inside a mountain. The King begins a war against the Argonauts: Sacatrapo arrives with a rag on his head and believes that he is invisible. He and Jason are taken prisoners. Riding a chariot drawn by dragons, Medeia divides the armies with a river. The King disowns his daughter, as she raises a tower from which she defies him. While Sacatrapo believes that he has found a treasure, snakes come out of the chest he is dragging: he has once again been fooled by Arpia. Creúsa and Jason flee during a night scene, but Medeia unleashes the winds, leading to a storm scene, so that they are forced to go back to Colchis. The King pardons Jason, offers him to marry Creúsa and promises to kill Medeia, who escapes on a cloud.

Rod and string marionette

Giant marionette

António José Da Silva (António José da Silva, aka O Judeu)

Portugal

Lisbon

Printed

Golden Fleece

Theft

Treason

Love

Unrequited love

Mock-heroic

Lyrical

Parodistic

Fantasy

Summary of the play Os Encantos de Medeia (edition of 1759)

Portuguese

Jason

Theseus

Nephew

King

General

Medea

Princess

Creusa

Niece

Maid

Guard

Soldier

Choir

Enchantment

Set that comes to life

Avista

Metamorphosis

Love rivalry

Clouds

Fighting a monster

Animalised character

Night scene

Stormy scene

Shipwreck scene

Animated natural element

Battlefield scene

Battle against a sorcerer

Entering with vehicle

Splitting of the body

Headbutt

Spying scene

Thunderbolt

Apotheosis

Final wedding

Dancing entertainment

Music

Ballet

Os Encantos de Medeia

Medea's Spells

Prince Abdal and his servant Kasper are lost in an enchanted forest. Kasper eats all the supplies while his master cannot satisfy his hunger. For three years, the prince has been searching for a woman who appeared to him in a dream. Then the king of the dwarfs and his subjects appear to the two men. The woman they are looking for is Princess Olanda, who is held captive in the forest by the magician Brandarbaran. They decide that Kasper will kill the magician, while Prince Abdal saves the princess. They are both given magical objects, and the dwarfs offer to help them. Kasper goes back to court using an invisibility cloak, and delivers fake news – that his master has died – then disappears. Olanda has been held captive for three years in Brandarbaran’s dungeon. Although she was treated like a princess in all respects by her maid Margaretha, she was raised by poor people. Brandarbaran tries to seduce her, but she resists him. Since this will cause him to look powerless, he decides to kill her. Prince Abdal and Kasper are at the foot of the dungeon, and about to fulfill their mission. Pimperle and Pitschkerle, two dwarfs, come to their aid and put the dragon to sleep. But Kasper does not succeed in killing the magician: in fact, the dwarfs did not wish him to, because Brandarbaran is actually Olanda’s father! Brandarbaran gives Kasper and Olanda their blessing. The maid Margaretha recognises Kasper: he is her husband, who ran away years before. They reconcile after quarrelling several times.

Germany

Saxony

Dwarf

Hunger

Enchanted forest

Magic object

Father-daughter incest

Dramatic

First page of Die Zwerge, c.1750.

Queen

Commanding officer

Master of ceremonies

King of the dwarfs

Dwarf (female)

Apparition

Stream of consciousness

Fake news

Die Zwerge

The dwarfs

Doctor Faust is disillusioned with academic disciplines. He learns black magic and makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles, promising him his soul if the latter accepts to serve him for twenty-four years. Faust’s new domestic servant, Casperle, also learns to summon demons, and engages the services of the devil Auerhahn. However, he refuses to sell his soul to him. During the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Parma, Faust makes the Ancient Testament appear before them and attempts to seduce the duchess. But he is pursued by her husband, the Inquisition and the outraged people, because Casperle has used his links with the devil to carry out miracles. Faust flees to Constantinople and Auerhahn brings Casperle to Mainz. The final act relates Faust’s damnation. He does penance, but he is doomed when Mephistopheles promises him the most beautiful woman in the world – Helen of Troy. Faust is carried off by demons, while Casperle, now a night watchman, takes his revenge on his wife at the end of the play, for the domestic violence she inflicted on him.

Simrock Karl

Bonn

Scholar

Necromancy

University

Monkey

Pluto

Crow

Mainz

Perlicke

Drink

Pigtail

Seduction

Inquisition

Couch

Vanity

Repentance

Nightwatchman

Lust

Future punishment

Spousal abuse

Humorous

Monologue

Dilemma

Off-stage voice

Tragic irony

Misunderstanding

Comic equivocation

Aside

Lazzi

Song

Pact with the devil

Versified passages

Dream

Chase

Theatre within the theatre

Domestic scene

Dance

Doctor Johannes Faust

Kasperl is the knight Kuno’s squire. While hunting in the woods, he meets a hermit who offers him food and drink. As he is in a good mood, Kasperl slaps him in the face. The situation degenerates and he ends up skewering the hermit on his halberd. Kuno arrives, unaware of this. The magician Murischuripixtimixtistopheles sets out to capture them both and cook them in his wizard's kitchen. He transforms into a monster and wants to eat Kasperl: Kasperl feeds him the hermit's corpse, but this is not enough to satisfy him. Kasperl then hits him with his halberd until he collapses, dead. The knight Kuno finally arrives, but the magician suddenly reappears: the monster was only an illusion. Kuno runs away. Kasperl does not have time to follow him. The magician takes him into his service and gives him a cauldron to watch over, threatening to cook him in the cauldron if he does his job badly. But instead, Kasperl pushes him into the cauldron, which explodes: Kasperl flies to the moon and returns to Earth after visiting all the taverns there...

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Middle Ages

Knighthood

Troubadour

Squire

Wood

Forest

Gluttony

Sorcery

Moon

Heroism

Assassination

Animals, Mythical

Tavern

Ein Ritterstück aus dem finstern Mittelalter

Hermit

Knight

Der Zauberer Murischuripixtimixtistopheles

Devil

Sung scenes

Address to the public

Metatheatre

Word for another

Parody of formal language

Blow-with-a-stick

Murder on stage

Apparition of the Devil

Magic act

Stichomythia

Macaronism

Kasperls Heldentaten

The heroic deeds of Kasperl

Christians (prince and king of Denmark) gathers his vassals and asks them to approve of his decision to marry. He has decided to propose to Églantine. She is the daughter of king Arthus of England, whom he has defeated several times. After his vassals agree, he sends his seneschal Tchantchès to Arthus to submit his proposal. Arthus rejoices at the news, but Églantine worries. She is under a spell - if the one who marries her cannot solve a riddle and save her life on the day of their wedding, she will be changed into a statue. Églantine presents the prince Christians with the riddle and he cannot solve it. On the day of the wedding, Chevalier Jasmin (Knight Jasmin), who is in love with Églantine, arrives at the castle and reproaches Églantine for betraying their love. She tries to reassure him. Then Chevalier Jasmin sees Christians, who conceals his identity and repeats the riddle presented by Églantine. Jasmin solves it, and Christians repeats the answer to Églantine. A dragon appears - only Chevalier Jasmin comes to Églantine’s aid and kills it. As Christians tries to imitate Chevalier Jasmin, he suffers a deadly fall. Arthus sends Tchantchès on the Danish camp to inform the people of Christians’ death. However, his message is misunderstood and Chevalier Guldenstern, who believes Arthus has killed Christians, sends the Danish troupes to his castle. Following the advice given by his knights, Arthus asks Jasmin to defend the drawbridge. Tchantchès offers to assist Jasmin, then Églantine joins them too. The three of them fight the Danish army and repel it. As a reward, Arthus makes Jasmin his son-in-law. He wonders at the feats the three of them achieved.

Sultan Achmet

Os Encantos de Medeia

Die Zwerge

Doctor Johannes Faust

Kasperls Heldentaten

Ein Ritterstück aus dem finstern Mittelalter

Le Destin de la princesse Églantine

Chant de chevalerie en quatre chapitres et quatorze actions

Plum Plum et le dragon Zouzou

El drac

L'encanteri del drac