The bishop Simplicius invites Chrysogonus, the nephew of the governor of Patras, for lunch. A gorgeous young woman, Luce, appears to him and asks for his protection: she has vowed to remain a virgin and fled from her father, who wanted to force her to marry. She is alone for a short while, and she reveals that she is Lucifer. Simplicius is flustered: he invites Luce to have lunch with them, and falls in love with her. He appeals to the apostle saint André (Saint Andrew) to stop him from giving in to temptation. Le Pauvre (Poor Man) appears and asks to have lunch with them. Luce agrees to let him, if he can answer three riddles. Le Pauvre answers and reveals that she is Lucifer, and that he is Saint André. While Lucifer disappears in Hell, Saint André sits down to eat with Simplicius and Chrysogonus.

Not specified

France

Paris

Vegetarianism

Glutton

Charity

Lust

Devotion

Chastity

Temptation

Virginity

Devil

Religious

Fantasy

Lyrical

Comical

French

Apostle

Bishop

Servant

Poor

Saint Andrew

Address to the public

Aside

Metamorphosis

Disguise

Engulfment

Change of voice

La Dévotion à saint André

The Devotion to Saint Andrew

A Unicorn crosses the stage with a forest in the background, saying “Honni soit qui mal y pense." Three men are looking at it and discussing the best way to catch it. One of them brought a sixty-year-old Virgin woman who wears a veil, as the Unicorn is attracted by purity. The Unicorn feels the presence of the Virgin, draws near her, and puts its head on her lap. The Virgin signals to the men to catch the animal, unveils, and uncovers her true identity - she is Britannia. The Unicorn feels betrayed and dies of sorrow. The Royal Coat of Arms is lowered, and the Unicorn is placed opposite to the roaring Lion. A butcher’s shop appears under the coat of arms, and the butcher can be seen chopping meat. A child rings at the shop, and the butcher’s son's voice can be heard alerting his mother.

String marionette

Craig Edward Gordon

Italy

Marina di Pisa

Printed

Purity

Hunting

Royals

Monarchy

Patriotism

Coat of arms

Satirical

English

Fowler

Virgin

Unicorn

Butcher

Child

Talking animal

Trap

Song

Allegory

The Rape of the Unicorn

Le Viol de la licorne

While the Father of a rich, bourgeois family is dying at the hospital, his house is being burgled. Pascaline, his help (who has become his wife since he became a widower) laments, but her daughter Sarah is delighted to be relieved of the burden of the memories attached to the objects. A Young Man (the Father’s son) happens to come back that very day after seven years of unexplained absence. Freddy, a young and attractive rogue, arrives the same day to ask his mother Pascaline to give him an explanation for the identity of his father and for the reasons that have led her to abandon him. Pascaline, who behaves like a mother towards the Young Man, rejects Freddy. We learn that she survived the Shoah when she was a child. She pretends to ignore who Freddy’s real father is and she also claims that, after denying her pregnancy, she entrusted her to her sister, who raised him without love in a poor suburb. An alcoholic and a very unstable person, she sees Nazis coming out of the walls, unless that it is Freddy who is manipulating her so that she tells him the truth. Later, Pascaline, drunk, confesses to Freddy we was born out of a short-lived relationship she had with a Maghrebin jazz musician who died during the Algerian War. She ends up accepting his son as a gift from God. Freddy’s attractiveness and the ambiguity of his behaviour reveal both the Young Man’s homosexual desire and Sarah’s need for love, as she was a prisoner of an unconditional love for her own brother, and therefore rejected any kind of sexual intimacy. The Young Man encourages his sister to find happiness with Freddy while he, knowing that she is happy, will be able to transition into the woman he realized he wants to be. The phone rings and the death of the Father is announced. Pascaline goes off to discover the world, encouraging Freddy and Sarah to build a fulfilling life as a couple in the house.