Rugantino lives in a shabby attic room. He has no money left, his wife Rosetta is sick and their children are hungry. The landowner comes to their place and asks them to pay the rent. Rugantino tries to move him to pity by showing the state to which his family and him have been reduced. The landowner shows them the order to seize their property, then, moved by Rugantino’s children who cling to his clothes, he lets himself be touched: he extends Rugantino’s delay to pay by a quarter of an hour.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Santangelo Gaetano (aka Ghetanaccio)

Italy

Rome

Printed excerpts

Money

Debt

Rent

Poverty

Cruelty

Satirical

Romanesco

Rugantino

Rosetta

Landlord

Child

Dramatic irony

[Rugantino e l'affitto]

Rugantino and the rent

Punch gets his nose bitten by Toby, the dog. Its master, Scaramouche, accuses him of having abused his dog, and they fight with sticks until his head splits from his body under Punch’s blows. In the following scene, Punch asks Judy for their infant in order to take care of him. However, irritated by his cries, he hits him against the frame of the puppet booth, and throws him in the middle of the audience. In the feud that follows, Punch hits Judy to death using a stick. He then has an affair with Pretty Polly. In the second act, Punch is thrown to the ground by his horse, Hector, and ends up beating to death the Doctor who came to help him. He makes a lot of noise, ringing a bell, and fights with the neighbour who came to ask him to stop. In the third act, Punch fights with a blind man. When policemen and Jack Ketch, a hangman, come to stop him, Punch hits them but is finally imprisoned. Punch must be hung, but he manages to have Jack Ketch hung instead. At the end, the Devil intervenes and fights with Punch, but Punch emerges triumphant.

Piccini Giovanni

Collier John Payne

Great Britain

London

Printed

Stick

Animal

Marseillaise

Infant

Father

Household

Couple

Murder

Serial murder

Noise

Music

Gallows

Justice

Farcical

English

Punch and Judy

Scaramouche

Baby

Doctor

Domestic servant

Blind

Police officer

Policeman

Executioner

Devil

Horse

Prologue

Versified passages

Address to the public

Off-stage voice

Song

Aria

Dance

Blow-with-a-stick

Splitting of the body

Domestic scene

Speechless character

Spectacular show acts

Bawdy equivocation

Confinement

Hanging scene

Blind character

Final intervention of the devil

Character thrown out of the scene

Animal dressé

The Tragical Comedy, or Comical Tragedy, of Punch and Judy

La comédie tragique, ou tragédie comique, de Punch et Judy

Punch gets his nose bitten by Toby, the dog. Its master, Scaramouche, accuses him of of having abused his dog, and they fight with sticks until his head splits from his body under Punch’s blows. In the following scene, Punch asks Judy for their infant in order to take care of him. However, irritated by his cries, he hits him against the frame of the puppet booth, and throws him in the middle of the audience. In the feud that follows, Punch hits Judy to death using a stick. He then has an affair with Pretty Polly. In the second act, Punch is thrown to the ground by his horse, Hector, and ends up beating to death the Doctor who came to help him. He makes a lot of noise, ringing a bell, and fights with the neighbour who came to ask him to stop. In the third act, Punch fights with a blind man. When policemen and Jack Ketch, a hangman, come to stop him, Punch hits them but is finally imprisoned. Punch must be hung, but he manages to have Jack Ketch hung instead. At the end, the Devil intervenes and fights with Punch, but Punch emerges triumphant.

France

Paris

Comical

French

Polichinelle

Police Superintendant

Constable

Mrs Polichinelle

Comical foreign accent

The Tragical Comedy, or Comical Tragedy, of Punch and Judy.

After Polichinelle’s greeting to the public, the play starts with the entry of Aveugle (Blindman), who begs for money. Aveugle accidentally hits Polichinelle with his cane; the two of them quarrel and Polichinelle knocks Aveugle unconscious. La Femme de l’Aveugle (Blindman’s Wife) is furious; she attacks Polichinelle and bites his nose. He knocks her unconscious as well and throws them both out of the hand-puppet booth. Commissaire (Superintendent) arrives and wants to take Polichinelle in. He asks Chat (Cat) for help, but the cat scratches him. Commissaire makes Chat believe that the gallows are destined for someone else. Pretending not to know how to slide his head through the slipknot, Polichinelle asks Commissaire to show him how to do it and takes advantage of the opportunity to hang him. He leaves, carrying Chat under his arm.

Trained animal

Beggary

Clumsiness

Cunning

Trap

Disobedience

Cheekiness

écrit sous sa dictée aux Champs-Élysées

Wife

Fight

Comedy of language

Fight with an animal

Drame du Polichinelle français

Drama of the French Polichinelle

Polichinelle enters and, with a stick, hits the director of a tavern who came to greet him. They fight and Polichinelle kills him. La Femme du Cabaretier (the tavern-keeper’s wife) asks Polichinelle where her husband is. He beats her as well, and she takes her husband’s corpse to the tavern. Le Commissaire (Superintendent) comes to get Polichinelle to throw him in prison, but Polichinelle beats him and runs away. Le Gendarme (Constable) also wants to arrest him. Polichinelle beats him as well, but other Gendarmes arrive and manage to get hold of him. Polichinelle is imprisoned. Le Bourreau (Executioner) wants to hang him, but Polichinelle pretends that he cannot put his head in the slipknot. He asks the Bourreau to show him how to do it, and hangs him in his stead. Le Diable (Devil) comes to take Polichinelle to Hell. They both fight, but the Diable wins and takes Polichinelle off the stage with him.

Young audiences

Attack

Wickedness

Punishment

Cabaret owner

Innkeeper

Death on stage

Apparition of the Devil

Sultan Mustapumpum still needs more soldiers to send his army to massacre the Christians, whom he wants to turn into tongue and ear salad for his meal. On the orders of Marshal Morackel, the recruiter of the Sultan's army tries to recruit the Jews Schmuel and Zwirn, who immediately flee; then he recruits Kasperl. But Kasperl knocks Morackel out with the rifle he gave him for the exercise. The marshal catches him in the act and wants to have him hanged. Kasperl does it so badly that Morackel puts the rope around his neck himself to show him how. Kasperl hangs him and then kills the Sultan by hitting him with the gallows.

Reinhardt Carl

Germany

Munich

Turkey

Sultan

Muslim

Black

Army

Military service

Silliness

Despotism

German

Kasperl

Role reversal

Word for another

Kasperl als Rekrut in der Türkei

Kasperl, a recruit in Turkey

Kasperl is arrested after breaking into the gardens of the cruel Sultan Schurimuri. Schurimuri wants to have him executed for spying, but Kasperl poses as an important guest and ends up being royally received in the sultan's kitchen. Drunk, he admits that he is not a scholar or a traveller, but simply Kasperl. Schurimuri wants to have him executed again, but Kasperl beats and kills him. He then takes his place and especially the turban of the Sultan, which he promises will be of great use for him when he returns to Germany.

Pocci Franz von

Pipe

Orientalism

Hunger

Wine

Turban

Beer

Botany

Seraglio

Burlesque

Ein grausames Lustspiel

Slave

Jailer

Lazzi

Chorus

Casperl in der Türkei

Kasperl in Turkey

In this expanded version of the play, Kasperl introduces himself to the Sultan as a botanist and impresses him with his knowledge of radishes (which go well with beer), so much so that he is hired into his service. But he is unhappy with his situation in a Muslim country where the consumption of alcohol is forbidden (except for the Sultan, in secret). He decides to flee with the slave Mimikatzi, who is being held in Schuriburi's seraglio. Kasperl offers to rid the Sultan of the mosquitoes he has to complain about and beats him to death with his stick. Night falls: Kasperl and Mimikatzi flee.

String marionette

Woman

Radish

Mosquitoes

Harem

Parodistic

Konstantinopolitanisches Lustspiel

Tambour

Turk

Disguise

Monologue

Murder on stage

Allusion to current literary events

Running away

Criticism of actors' theatre

Epilogue

Kasperl in der Türkei

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.

Bear

Hunting

Wedding

Romanticism

Knighthood

Young girl

Deafness

Curiosity

Kidnapping

Women's condition

Dramatic

Barbe-Bleue

Knight

Horseman

Dialogue of the deaf

Parody of formal language

Blaubart

Bluebeard

A wealthy baker chef asks his cousin the apothecary to help him poison Pierrot, who is constantly robbing and assaulting him. When this plan fails, he sends his dog after the thief, but Pierrot kills the dog. Knowing that Pierrot has always wanted to learn pastry-making, the baker pretends to take him on as an apprentice to get revenge. But Pierrot plays many tricks. The gendarme, who has come to arrest him, is swindled, then hanged in the villain's place. Pierrot kills the baker and the apothecary, as a worthy disciple of Polichinelle.