The Docteur (Doctor) advises Coquerel to protect his sick wife from any noise. Coquerel tells his wife that he will order his servant Cadet to ensure that no one sings or screams on the square. A Militaire (Military man) coming back from Toulon on foot and getting close to his house stops in an inn. Guignol has just been thrown out of the house where he was a servant and he sings to feel better. The Militaire congratulates him on his voice and gives him five francs so that he continues to sing in front of the inn. Cadet asks Guignol to stop singing at once, and gives him ten francs to keep quiet. The Militaire comes back and requires that Guignol sings, Cadet hits Guignol to make him keep quiet, the Militaire does the same thing and Guignol beats them both. The Militaire states that Guignol fought well, and invites him to follow him home so that he can sing as he pleases.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Vuillerme-Dunand Victor-Napoléon

France

Lyon

Villefranche-sur-Saône

Handwritten outline

Noise

Illness

Contradiction

Comical

Tu chanteras, tu ne chanteras. Funds Léopold Dor, MAM-Musées Gadagne

French

Doctor

Soldier

Cadet

Valet

Running gag

Song

Dilemma

Blow-with-a-stick

Tu chanteras, tu ne chanteras

You will sing, you won't sing

King Mirambole is tyrannical, vain and hypochondriac, and he wants to marry. Three rival courtiers (the Doctor, the Astrologer and the Goldsmith) flatter the King, smear one another and conspire to persuade him to choose a woman from their respective families as his wife. The Doctor convinces the King that only a comet put on his forehead will cure him of all his pains. To cause the Astrologer’s downfall, he also advises the King to leave this task to him. The Astrologer suggests that the King ask the Goldsmith to make one, while the Goldsmith persuades the King to entrust the Doctor and the Astrologer with the task. In the end, the valet Pierrot commits to bringing the king a comet. Pierrot goes to his brother, an innkeeper, brings back a bottle of “comet wine” and convinces his niece Balibutte to follow him. When he comes back to the palace, he introduces his niece as a comet embodied in a woman, and he cures the king with the wine. Balibutte relates a dream to the king, which both exposes the courtiers’ betrayals and tells him how to punish them. The king executes the courtiers, marries Balibutte and names Pierrot grand vizier.

All audiences

Paris

Printed

Brokers

Ambition

Flattery

Conspiracy

Tyrant

Wedding

Vanity

Cabaret

Wine

Self-deception

Cruelty

Comet

Cure

Dream

Rivalry

Melancholy

Satirical

Fantasy

Front page of La Comète du Roi Mirambole, 1862.

Astrologer

Physician

Executioner

Pierrot

Cabaret owner

Herald

Aside

Off-stage noise

Public announcement

Execution scene

Account of a dream

Monologue

La Comète du Roi Mirambole

The Comet of King Mirambole

Catalysterium, a fake doctor, breaks into the Niflanguille's house and diagnoses the couple and their servant with a supposedly fatal disease. He asks them to stay in bed, eats their food and prescribes very expensive medicines (in fact water) to rob them. Mr. Niflanguille finds out about the scam and gets his money back. Cataclysterium is beaten by the Niflanguille and their servant and forced to take an oath to give up medicine forever.

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

False doctor

Medicine

Health

Medicines

Swindler

Punishment

Money

Syringe

Farcical

Domestic servant

Lazzi

Headbutt

Chase

Les Drogues de Cataclysterium

Cataclysterium's Drugs

The old Ablamore, father of seven daughters, of whom only one, Astolaine, is still alive, wants to make the young Greek slave Alladine his mistress. Alladine and Palomides, Astolaine's fiancé, fall in love with each other. While Astolaine resigns herself to giving Palomides her freedom, Ablamore sinks into jealousy. Alladine and Palomides, shackled and blindfolded, are locked in an underground cave. They manage to free themselves from their bonds and are delighted by the beauty of the cave and an underground lake. Astolaine and the six sisters of Palomides, who have come to rescue them, let in the light of day which reveals the true aspect of the cave. The two lovers become frightened and fall into the lake. After being pulled out of the water, they are placed in two separate chambers and, while talking without seeing each other, they both die.

Maeterlinck Maurice

Belgium

Ghent

Love

Jealousy

Fiancé

Madness

Enclosure

Cave

Underground lake

Vision

Death

Light

Depreciation

Dramatic

Tragic

Sister

Off-stage voice

Alladine et Palomides

Alladine and Palomides

A theatre director has hired Polichinelle for the evening, but Polichinelle is late for the show. When he comes on, he is haunted by the ghost of his conscience, that chastises him for his very instinctive personality. Following the director’s questions concerning what is tormenting him, Polichinelle uses glove-puppets to play episodes from his childhood, when he was often punished for his misdemeanour. Once the flashback is over, Polichinelle wants to improvise some jokes, but the director forbids him from tackling political themes. As he does not know what kind of show to put on, Polichinelle keeps talking about his past – how his parents had him then abandoned him for lack of money, and his first heartbreaks. Polichinelle and the director argue. The latter summons Illness and Death, who want to take Polichinelle with them. While screaming that he is an immortal character, Polichinelle manages to drive them out – thus saving theatre and also making up with the director.

Tu chanteras, tu ne chanteras

La Comète du Roi Mirambole

Les Drogues de Cataclysterium

Alladine et Palomides

Sous le masque tu es mortel pauvre orphelin !

Fable théâtrale pour comédiens et marionnettes