Aurélia and Eularia’s guardian, Scaramouche, has imprisoned them because he would like to get hold of their belongings and marry Eularia. Cinthio and Octave, with the help of Arlequin and Trivellin, set up a series of ploys to see the two girls. One of those ploys consists in a curiosité show. They pressure Scaramouche into forsaking his ambitions. The third act is set at the Foire Saint-Germain. There, Arlequin disguises himself as the puppeteer Brioché and performs several magic tricks.

Curiosité

Not specified

France

Paris

Printed summary

Animated object

Tutor

Wedding

Fair

Chimney sweep

Enema

Magic tricks

Toothpulling

Infant

Comical

French

Il regalo delle dame

Scaramouche

Cintio

Arlecchino

Octave

Trivelin

Brioché

Moor

Blind

Marquis

Tooth Puller

Mask (masked type)

Judge

Chimney sweeper

Metamorphosis

Theatre within the theatre

Magic act

Disguise

Imbroglio

Misunderstanding

Lazzi

Word for another

Le Régal des dames

The ladies' Treat

Truitonne quarrels with her sister Florine – she is unhappy with her own name and reproaches her for being loved by everyone while she is despised. She would like to inflict pain on others and to be loved anyway. Their godfather Enchanteur Rotomago (Sorcerer Rotomago) announces that he would like them to marry: Truitonne with Prince Charmant (Prince Charming) and Florine with himself. Gilles, Prince Charmant’s servant , comes in and announces Prince Charmant’s arrival, but at first the characters mistake him for his master. When Charmant arrives, he immediately notices Florine, while Rotomago tries to draw attention to Truitonne. A Fée (fairy) steps in to warn him that Florine is the woman he must love. Rotomago bribes Gilles so that he helps him set up a trap. He will have Charmant believe that Florine has asked to see him. But taking advantage of the dark, they will make Truitonne come to the rendezvous instead. Thus, Truitonne poses as Florine and Charmant gives her a ring as a token of his love. As he believes that he is speaking to Florine, Charmant wishes out loud that a devil would carry her sister away, and his wish is fulfilled – a devil carries Florine away, but Charmant launches himself after her. Once at the cemetery, Charmant and Gilles meet an apparition of her that tells them that Florine is still alive. Rotomago asks Charmant to marry Truitonne, and when he refuses, he punishes him by changing him into a bird for seven years. Florine is made captive in a tower under the supervision of Gilles, who has them believe that Charmant died of sorrow and of an indigestion of rum babas. A blue bird (Oiseau bleu) enters her room, and Florine understands him to be Prince Charmant. He takes hold of a cane and hits Gilles. Rotomago, Truitonne and Gilles go after Oiseau bleu. The latter comes back to Florine and receives a letter brought by a Bourdon (bumblebee), in which he is told about an attack on his kingdom. Gilles glimpses Oiseau, shoots him with a gun then puts him in a magical coach that takes him to his own castle. There, he convinces the Seigneurs (lords) of his court to let him lead an army to battle. Rotomago appears and offers to give him back his human form on condition that he marries Truitonne. Charmant agrees in order to protect his subjects. As Charmant and Truitonne’s marriage is about to be celebrated, a Génie (Genie) appears with Florine. He transforms the Enchanteur into a turkey and convinces Gilles and Truitonne to marry, while Charmant will marry Florine.

String marionette

Manuscript

Magic

Enchantment

Jealousy

Love

Treason

Hunting

Fantasy

L'Oiseau bleu, first page of the manuscript.

Princess

Magician

Servant

Gille

Prince

Fairy

Genie

Devil

Lord

Song

Set that comes to life

Situation comedy

Off-stage voice

Graveyard scene

Dance

Flying machine

Talking animal

Entering with vehicle

Letter

Blow-with-a-stick

Gunshot

Apparition of a genius

Final song

L'Oiseau bleu

The blue Bird

Casperl gets drunk with the hunter Thomerl and Thomerl offers to put Casperl’s wife Grethl to the test: Casperl has to fake an illness that will lead to his death, and Thomerl, disguised as a doctor, will come and certify the death. As soon as Casperl is pronounced dead, Grethl tries to console herself in the arms of Lieutenant Pulvermann. The fake dead man is resurrected, a fight ensues in which Pulvermann is killed and the corpse is taken backstage. A police officer comes to seize Casperl, but husband and wife join forces against the impetuous man, who is forced to give in to the violence. To celebrate their reconciliation, Casperl and Grethl go to the inn, where they also meet with Thomerl.

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Printed

Household

Philosophy

Beer

Wine

Gluttony

Doctor

Drunkenness

Medicine

Grief

Scatology

Reconciliation

Tavern

Farcical

German

Ein beispielloses Spektakelstück

Kasperl

Thomerl

Madame Kasperl

Lieutenant

Police officer

Monologue

Macaronism

Spying scene

Parody of formal language

Aside

Fake death

Dream

Brawl

Murder on stage

Slaps

Die Prüfung

The test

On the advice of his companion Bluteck, the cruel knight Barbe-Bleue (Blaubart) decides to remarry for the seventh time and kidnaps Bertha, the eldest daughter of the rich Geldsack. The next day, Barbe-Bleue leaves the castle and gives Bertha all the keys, including the one to the secret cabinet, which he nevertheless forbids her to enter. But Bertha disobeys him and discovers the decapitated bodies of his previous wives. To punish her for her curiosity, Barbe-Bleue sentences her to death. She is saved by her former suitor Hugo von Hohenfels, who, with the help of the servant Kasperl, enters the castle and kills Barbe-Bleue.

Young audiences

Cruelty

Bear

Romanticism

Knighthood

Young girl

Deafness

Curiosity

Kidnapping

Women's condition

Murder

Dramatic

Parodistic

Barbe-Bleue

Knight

Ecuyer

Dialogue of the deaf

Apparition of the Devil

Blaubart

Bluebeard

Guignol – Vincent’s servant – has lost his wife Madelon, who ate a melon and died of food poisoning. Vincent plans on having him marry Louison – Gnafron’s daughter – so that his two servants are bound to one another. But Guignol deeply misses his wife, with whom he was always quarreling. He leaves his master’s house with the intention of going down to the Underworld to get her back. However, Gnafron finds Guignol sitting in a wine shop. After an enjoyable meal, they go back to their master. As the marriage settlement is being drafted, Louison is delighted to have finally found a husband. She pushes Guignol in front of her with a hairpin and promises him that she will be as mean as his first wife. But Guignol manages to escape before the contract is signed: Gnafron and Louison chase after him, while Vincent decides to sit at a table to eat with his neighbour Durand.
Guignol is exhausted while looking for Madelon. He falls asleep and sees the Génie of goodness, who presents him in his dream with an image of his wife accompanied by an imp. When he wakes up, Guignol summons the Génie, who warns him about the dangers that await. He also describes the five rivers of the Underworld. But Guignol is a proud man from Lyon: he knows how to swim, and he is not scared! Before Charon lets him on his rowboat for free (Guignol promises that with such prices he will be a most loyal client), he warns the hero that Madelon is Proserpine (Proserpina)’s companion, and Proserpine might not give her back to him. Guignol insists and repeats that he is not afraid of Cerbère (Cerberus). In fact, he means to coax its seven heads with bread and cheese. When he meets Pluton (Pluto), Guignol asks for his wife to be given back to him. The king of the Underworld remembers that the man appealing to him is protected by the Génie of goodness and thus summons his wife. Proserpine refuses to let Madelon go—she clings on to her as to her meanest companion. Then she yields, on condition that the wife consents to it. Madelon arrives, hits her husband and hurls insults at him. But Guignol provides good arguments: he has just come into an inheritance of sugar, coffee, eau de vie and absinthe… After thinking it over for a few minutes, Madelon agrees to follow him, on the flying dragon that Pluton lends Guignol to take them back up to the surface. Before they leave, the king of the Underworld promises to organise a feast for them. They are delighted about the idea, but the flames of the Underworld force them to flee before they can taste anything.

Glove-puppet

Descent into hell

Resurrection

Glutton

Boat trip

Burlesque

Mock-heroic

La Descente de Guignol aux Enfers (cover page)

Notary

Rentier

Guignol

Domestic servant

Gnafron

Concierge

Young woman

Pluto

Proserpina

Charon

Popular speech

Dinner scene

Domestic scene

Avista

La Descente de Guignol aux Enfers

Guignol's Trip to the Underworld

In Jeu-Maloches, a village in the French department of Indre, flageolet player Arthur Graboyos became a waiter at the inn Hôtel du Veau Qui Désire Téter (Hotel of the Calf That Wants To Suckle) in order to grow closer to Dorothée – the daughter of the innkeeper Friturin. Arthur and Dorothée both want to marry each other, but Friturin refuses to let an artist marry his daughter. Arthur is expecting a donation from an uncle in America. Bidet – the postman – brings a letter of marriage proposal to Friturin. Bidet himself would also like to marry Dorothée; however, she rejects him. The shipowner Chandelle, who sent Friturin the letter to offer his nephew to Dorothée, arrives at the hotel with an enormous trunk filled with pepper. Friturin dismisses Arthur after they quarrel. The latter comes back disguised as a cook and hides in Chandelle’s trunk to abduct Dorothée during the night. But the trunk snaps shut on him with a padlock. Several misunderstandings and quarrels happen one after another – Dorothée believes that Chandelle is Arthur in disguise, Friturin mistakes Chandelle for Arthur and Chandelle does not understand that Arthur is his nephew because he assumed the name Graboyos for his career as a musician. Arthur comes out of the trunk and makes himself recognised. All the misunderstandings are clarified and Chandelle gifts Arthur forty thousand French francs so that he can marry Dorothée.

Maurice Sand (Maurice Sand)

Nohant

Rivalry in love

Dowry

Father-daughter relationship

Musician

Cunning

Maurice Sand, Le Flageolet (first page of the manuscript)

Le Danger des malles à cadenas

Innkeeper

Postman

Daughter

Disguised character (false identity)

Hidden character

Instrumental tune

Le Flageolet

The Flageolet

The shepherd Tityre lives in the Arcadian mountains with his beloved, a Zither player named Lycoris. One day, Lycoris strays away from their home and is captured by Lycophon, a pirate who sells her to a slaveholder Flagellantus, then to the Emperor’s barber Pelliculus and finally to the senator Mamillarus. Tityre follows the pirate ship to save his beloved. In the meantime, Mamillarus and Titus are waiting for a feast to begin. Tityre decides to buy his beloved back, but he does not have enough money. Therefore, he decides to start serving Mamillarus and his wife Mamillara. However, it is discovered that Tityre is in fact Mamillarus’ legitimate son, who was kidnapped by bandits. At the end of the play, César Titus arrives and sings his goodness and his absence of pride, in the fashion of street “hits”. He gives Lycoris her freedom back and offers to pay for the wedding.

Le Régal des dames

L'Oiseau bleu

Die Prüfung

Ein beispielloses Spektakelstück

Blaubart

La Descente de Guignol aux Enfers

Le Flageolet

La Clémence de Titus

Nous dînons chez le colonel

Yvon, ou la Barbe d'Acier

Undine, die Wassernixe