The ambitious Doctor Faust begins learning black magic and makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles: he promises him his soul on condition that the latter agrees to serve him. Faust goes to Parma with Mephistopheles and his houseboy Hans Wurst. The houseboy was asked to keep the identity of his master secret, but he gives it away to the duke of Parma as soon as he arrives there. Faust makes several spectacular natural phenomena appear before the duke (Mount Etna erupting, a sea tempest) but the duke’s courtiers hate him for showing the duke their true nature. Faust is forced to flee. Although Hans Wurst is dismissed, he finds refuge with Wagner, Faust’s servant. Mephistopheles eventually secures Faust’s soul by making Helen of Troy fall in love with him. He also shows him that his generosity will not save him, because its benefits also had harmful effects on his protégés. Faust understands that he is damned, takes leave of Hans Wurst and Wagner, and hands himself over to Hell when midnight strikes.

Not specified

Germany

Augsburg

Printed

Scholar

Wittenberg

Necromancy

Sorcery

Vice

Cheekiness

Nature

Navy

Brokers

Scatology

Crucifix

Hell

Future punishment

Vanity

Tragic

Burlesque

First page of the play in Johann Scheible's edition, Das Kloster, 1847

German

Ein Trauerspiel in 3 Theilen und 9 Aufzügen. (Vom Augsburger Puppentheater.)

Faust

Genie

Guardian angel

Satan

Christoph Wagner

Hanswurst

Mephistopheles

Devil

Duke of Parma

Helen of Troy

Monologue

Dilemma

Instrumental tune

Board

Improvised scene

Lazzi

Word for another

Word reiteration

Apparition

Pact with the devil

Bawdy equivocation

Flying machine

Diorama

Versified passages

Johann Faust

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.

String marionette

Simrock Karl

Bonn

Magic

University

Monkey

Pluto

Crow

Mainz

Perlicke

Drink

Pigtail

Dragon

Seduction

Inquisition

Italy

Couch

Repentance

Nightwatchman

Lust

Spousal abuse

Humorous

Off-stage voice

Tragic irony

Misunderstanding

Comic Equivocation

Aside

Song

Dream

Pyrotechnics

Chase

Theatre within the theatre

Domestic scene

Dance

Doctor Johannes Faust

Doctor Sassafras is pleased to have a client as hypochondriac as Steinreich. This rich and selfish man forbids his niece Marie from continuing to see his secretary Schreiber, whom he dismisses. Steinreich envisions a more beneficial match for his niece. Doctor Sassafras makes a deal with the devil to summon Death. Schreiber then attempts suicide, but a gravedigger saves him, as Death is detained in Sassafras’ enchanted chair. The Devil realises that his pact with Sassafras is detrimental to him and breaks their contract. Death comes fetch the doctor, who turns to God and hopes for His mercy. In the meantime, Steinreich converted: he has become charitable and, most importantly, no longer opposes Marie and Schreiber’s union.

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Medicine

Knödel

Usurpation

Surgery

Prestige

Wealth

Champagne

Misery

Forced marriage

Hypochondria

Cemetery

Bible

Suicide

Sentimentalism

Religion

Farcical

Satirical

Comical

Pathetic

Title page in the original edition of Pocci's comedies

oder Doctor, Tod und Teufel

Doctor

Kasperl

Secretary

Death

Peasant

Domestic servant

Gravedigger

Parody of formal language

Dialect as a social marker

Allegory

Light effects

Philosophical dialogue

Final wedding

Doctor Sassafras

Polichinelle has cloistered himself in a barrel to escape the world’s malice. Despite the pleas of Pierrot, Cassandre and a pork butcher, he is determined to stay cloistered (although he took the wine, the money and the ham they brought to try and lure him out). Everyone misses the old Polichinelle and his love for life, but Pierrot comes up with an idea. He makes sure that Polichinelle watches a puppet show in which a harmless Polichinelle has withdrawn from the world. The real Polichinelle is outraged – he knocks the booth over and drives the puppeteer out. Meanwhile, Pierrot takes the barrel away. Polichinelle sorely misses his barrel, which he claims was a trick to better swindle people. The policeman arrives to arrest Polichinelle, for “disturbance to civilisation”, but the latter escapes. Pierrot, who fled when he saw the policeman, comes back with his arms full of the wine, ham and money he found in the barrel.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Hypocrisy

Misanthropy

Cunning

Wine

Money

Depression

Withdrawal from the world

Parodistic

Frontispiece of Polichinelle withdrawn from the World.

French

Polichinelle

Pierrot

Constable

Pork butcher

Cassandre

Cassandra

L’Acteur faisant le personnage de Polichinelle

Actor

Manipulator

L’Acteur faisant le personnage de Pierrot

Blow-with-a-stick

Hidden character

Apparition of the puppeteer

Characterisation through onomatopoeia

Polichinelle retiré du monde

Polichinelle withdrawn from the world

Donna Anna turns Don Juan away – she prefers her more virtuous brother. Don Juan asks his father for three hundred ducats to win her over. When Don Pedro refuses and threatens to throw him behind bars, he loses his temper and murders him. Don Juan flees the town with his servant Kasperl, whom he pretends is the new sergeant, to fool the guards, and they hide in the woods. There, they meet a hermit and Don Juan wants to borrow his clothes to disguise himself. But Kasperl tells the hermit what crimes his master Don Juan has committed, and Don Juan eliminates this troublesome witness. In the meantime, the devil appears to Kasperl, who promptly gets rid of him. As they arrive to an inn, Don Pedro’s ghost appears to them and Don Juan invites him to dinner. The ghost agrees to the invitation and is poorly received by Kasperl, who go as far as throwing a chair on him. Don Juan refuses to repent. The ghost invites him back, then holds out his hand to him to seal their deal. At this moment, devils come and carry him into the air. Kasperl takes all of his master’s money and celebrates.

Schmidt Leopold

Austria

Vienna

Father

Lover

Brother

Jealousy

Parricide

Murder

Assassination

Tavern

Ghost

Phantom

Sausage

Woman

Love

Excessive drinking

Spirits

Dramatic

Lyrical

Das nächtliche Gericht, oder Der steinerne Gast, oder Junker Hans von Stein

Don Juan

Don Pietro

Anna

Guard

Hermit

Waitress

Final intervention of the devil

Role reversal

Inn scene

Apparition of the Devil

Murder on stage

Running away

xDon Juan der Wilde

Don Juan the Wild Man

Canezou – a rich Parisian merchant – suggests that her daughter marry the son of his friend Fromaget – a young, rich, handsome and intelligent man. But the fickle girl turns down all commoner suitors. Arthur Galuchait – the son of one of Canezou’s old friends – returns to Paris after having become rich in the Indies, and he proposes to Caroline. Her father warns Arthur about his daughter’s state of mind. The young man leaves an excellent first impression on Caroline but is then thrown out on the street when she discovers that he does not have noble blood. Arthur stumbles on Oscar, another suitor rejected on the same grounds by the fair girl. They both want to teach Caroline a lesson and join up with the carpenter Billembois. Then Arthur goes to Canezou’s house dressed Indian-style to deliver a message from the king Menemetapa – the King wants his son to marry the fair Caroline, his son having fallen in love after seeing her at the Théâtre des Italiens. For this reason, the young Prince is going to grant Canezou the rank of “Grand Crustacé du royaume” (Great Crustacean of the kingdom). Canezou summons his daughter, who trembles with emotion. Oscar is disguised in the middle of a parade of servants and escorts Billembois, who is wearing a fake moustache and the costume of an oriental prince. Billembois proposes to Caroline in a speech of exotic gibberish, and she is enthralled and agrees to marry him. Billembois kisses Caroline. When Canezou and Caroline are about to sign the prenuptial agreement written by Oscar, Billembois has qualms about hurting Caroline. He reveals the fraud and removes his mask. Arthur gets angry at Billembois, who was supposed to disclose his true identity only after signing the agreement. Oscar removes his disguise too. Oscar, Arthur, Billembois and the rest of the procession leave. Cured of her dreams of greatness, Caroline admits that she is still under Billembois’s spell. Canezou is flabbergasted and keeps talking about Fromaget’s son.