The Spanish grandee Don Marcello has two daughters: one is well-behaved (Eleonore), while the other is always uncooperative (Mariane). Mariane is in love with Count Alfonso, who killed his only brother in a sword fight. Mariane is to be sent to a monastery, but she asks her lover to run away with her. The count’s servant Casper steals the chimney sweep’s ladder and makes preparations for their escape. Egidio – a pious man – tries to stop them from fleeing, and he convinces Don Alfonso to give up on his venture. In the end, Egidio himself runs off with Mariane, who he is secretly in love with. They both join a group of thieves. Egidio kills their leader and replaces him. While Don Marcello is traveling with his other daughter, Eleonore, he is taken prisoner by Mariane, who hides behind a mask. Her father has not recognised her, and she obtains his blessing and forgiveness for having wronged him. When she meets Don Alfonso in the forest, she finds out that he did not betray her, and that he still loves her. She gives him a ring which he must give to Don Marcello, while telling him that his beloved is forever lost and that he, his father, will never see her again either. Mariane forces Casper to sell her as a slave to her father. When he arrives on Don Marcello’s grounds, Don Alfonso gives him the ring. As a consequence, Don Marcello believes that Don Alfonso plotted Mariane’s abduction, before abandoning her. Then Casper appears, disguised as a slave trader. Don Marcello wants to do a good deed by buying back the freedom of the slave he is selling. But Casper reveals that she is a thief. Then Mariane, disguised as a slave, goes as far as pretending that she is Mariane’s assassin. But her father recognises her and forgives her; her fiancé does the same. Egidio appears and confesses to what he has done. He is also forgiven. Mariane and Don Marcello are given permission to marry, and Egidio marries Eleonore. As for Casper, he eventually marries the chamber maid Charlotte, but only when she proposes to him – because this has become the established practice.

String marionette

Not specified

Germany

Crottendorf

Manuscript

Robber

Emancipation

Kidnapping

Women's condition

Father

Hypocrisy

Slavery

Nobility

Spain

Comical

Dramatic

Theaterzettel, Heinrich Rau, Eppendorf in Sachsen, before 1875

German

Der weibliche Straßenräuber

Noble

Count

Kasperl

Servant

Chambermaid

Chimney sweeper

Cross-dressing

Final wedding

Monologue

Disguise

Disguised character (false identity)

Mariane

The English Marquis leaves the strongbox in which he keeps his wife’s jewellery with the Innkeeper. The brigand Fradiavolo witnesses this and tells his men. At nightfall, the robbers break into the inn to steal the strongbox. But as they hear Cerline’s (the innkeeper’s daughter) prayer, they hesitate. At that moment, Robert – Cerline’s fiancé – arrives at the inn with his own men. The robbers decide to postpone the theft. The following night, the drunken robbers sing Cerline’s prayer. Their plan is thus exposed. Robert is warned by Cerline and manages to arrest the robbers, among which was Fradiavolo.

Rod and string marionette

France

Lille

Handwritten outline

Casette

Tourism

Theft

Arrest

Jewel

Prayer

French

Sergeant

Knight

Marquis

English man

Frà Diavolo

Innkeeper

Inn scene

Night scene

Improvised dialogue

La Capture du fameux Fradiavolo

The Capture of the famous Fradiavolo

Unable to sleep, Casperl complains about his lot in life and even says that he is ready to appeal to the spirits, following the example of Faust, when a headless ghost appears in front of him. The ghost asks him to save him from hell by performing the necessary rites at midnight at the gallows. In exchange, Casperl will get hold of the treasure that the ghost buried at this location when he was still a bandit. The next day, Casperl, who has forgotten the ritual words, asks the witch Moosmayerin to help him: she gives him Holofernes’ magical belt. In the next scene, Casperl has become rich, but he considers that the money shouldn’t be used to pay his debts and he sends his creditors away with injurious words. When a police officer comes to arrest him, he manages to lock the police officer inside his house and goes to the tavern. When he returns to his place, he discovers that the police officer has hung himself by accident with the rope with which he tried to slip away. Casperl is thrown in prison, but he is freed by the ghost, who tells him that the police officer has not died and that he has resumed his work.

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Printed

Beer

Night

Melancholy

Faust

Spirits

Scaffold

Sorcery

People and history

Coffee

Market

Wealth

Scatology

Debt

Tavern

Perlicke

Romanticism

Fantasy

Burlesque

Schicksalsdrama in vier Aufzügen

Madame Kasperl

Tailor

Police officer

Shoemaker

Ghost

Word for another

Metatheatre

Thunderbolt

Chorus

Animated natural element

Song

Parody of formal language

Macaronism

Hanging scene

Transforming scenery

Board

Instrumental tune

Casperl wird reich

Casperl gets rich

Guignol’s aunt has recently died. She has left him “L’Auberge des Adrets”, a dilapidated inn set remotely in the mountains. Guignol’s cousin, Martin, is staying there and waiting for Guignol to arrive, but he is uneasy: it is rumoured that the building is haunted, and a hiding place for outlaws on the run. Guignol arrives on Christmas Eve and Martin returns to the village. While Guignol inspects the place, Gnafron and Cadet walk into the inn – unbeknown to Guignol. The two friends have come to rehearse a horror scene for a film on a thieving gang that used to steal from isolated houses and kill their residents. Guignol tries to sleep on an old mattress, but he is repeatedly bothered – by a mouse, a spider, a cat, then two snakes, all living in the shack. Gnafron and Cadet rehearse the scene in which they kill the innkeeper. Guignol hears them and believes that they want to murder him. In the dark, he then pretends to be a ghost, to scare them away. Gnafron and Cadet are scared at first, but they finally recognise their friend Guignol. The three of them make a toast and wish one another a merry Christmas.

Glove-puppet

Lyon

Inheritance

Christmas Eve

Phantom

Fear

Snake

Fake ghost

Talking cinema

Haunted house

Christmas

Fantastic

ou l'Auberge des fantômes

Guignol

Gnafron

Cadet

Rehearsal (play within a play)

Dramatic irony

Final song

Comedy of language

Le Noël de Guignol

Guignol’s Christmas or The Inn of the ghosts

Guignol is riddled with debts and can no longer provide for his wife and his daughter Madelon. To get him out of trouble, his friend Grinchitoux suggests that he become an “apache” – that is, a thief – like him. Madelon begs her boyfriend Pintrus to prevent it. Grinchitoux takes Guignol to the edge of the forest, where he is asked to cause accidents and rob the travellers. When Guignol refuses, Grinchitoux threatens him with a gun. Pintrus tries to take Guignol back home, but the latter drives him off. The Baron de Pierrafeu’s car crashes. His valet Trouillard (meaning “lily-livered”) flees, and the Baron is taken inside a cave. Grinchitoux tortures him, until the Baron reveals where his money is hidden and hands him the key to his castle. The Baron is then left for dead. While Grinchitoux fails to find the money, Guignol, who was keeping watch, repents. Pintrus arrives and urges Guignol to flee, as the police is on its way – led by the Baron, who is still alive. Grinchitoux kills the valet Trouillard, then the Baron. He is apprehended by the Gendarme (policeman). Guignol is safe and alive, and he has become a perfect husband. He agrees to Madelon and Pintrus’ marriage. Grinchitoux is sentenced to death. He makes an attempt at escaping, but Guignol catches him, and he is hanged. Guignol treats the policeman and the hangman to a drink.