Polichinelle has enlisted as a soldier for six years. After arriving at the camp of the French army, outside Kehl, he is frightened and wants to go back to Paris. Sentenced to be hanged for deserting, he is pardoned because the garrison of the fortress has just surrendered.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

Carolet Denis

France

Paris

Printed

Army

Deserter

Fear

Death penalty

Antimilitarism

Comical

Manuscrit of La Prise du fort de Kehl (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. fr. 9294)

French

Polichinelle

Sergeant

Drum

Trumpet (military man/woman)

General

Judge

Hanging scene

Final song

La Prise du fort de Kehl

The Capture of the fortress of Kehl

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

Military service

Gallows

Silliness

Despotism

Cruelty

Farcical

German

Kasperl

Role reversal

Word for another

Kasperl als Rekrut in der Türkei

Kasperl, a recruit in Turkey

The tailor Bock lodges a complaint with the mayor Salzmaier against Kasperl, his tenant, for night-time disturbances. Salzmaier wants to put him in prison, but Kasperl, warned by his clerk friend Spritzler, pretends to be Garibaldi, entering the Tyrol leading 50,000 men. He takes up residence in Salzmaier's house, flirts with his wife Margarethe and drinks so much beer... that everyone recognises him: the play ends with a general brawl.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Excessive drinking

Beer

Spousal abuse

Italy

Seduction

Burlesque

Satirical

Ein politisches Trauerspiel, aus dem Italienischen übersetzt

Clerk

Madame Kasperl

Tailor

Innkeeper

In der Ferne das Garibaldische Armeekorps

Inn scene

Political allegory

Parody of formal language

Dialect

Macaronism

Disguise

Brawl

Kasperl als Garibaldi

Kasperl as Garibaldi

The play is set in Orleans in 1867. Madame Pétenvert (a widow) and Mademoiselle Euphémie are accommodating two captains – Vachard and Chiclair – for three months. They quickly fall in love with their guests and would like to marry them. However, the two captains take advantage of the situation and spend their time talking, in a light-hearted manner, about politics, the army and, at the same, about women, billiards and their love of good food. One day, they are invited to dinner at the colonel’s house. The dinner ends with the two captains being drunk and getting the landladies’ houses mixed up. Thus, the two men being sick, captain Vachard spends the night with Mademoiselle Euphémie while captain Chiclair sleeps with Mademoiselle Pétenvert. The following day, after leaving the houses, they both accuse each other of having disrespected them, because of the state of their slippers and of the beds. However, this conversation about honour ends up being a commentary on the night they have just spent with the two women. The captains accuse the colonel of having treated them “too well” and the latter, in response, orders them to go back to their respective landladies and to marry them.

Glove-puppet

Maurice Sand (Maurice Sand)

Nohant

Politics

Soldier

Dinner

Glutton

Entertainment

Unfaithfulness

Wedding

Eugène Lambert, George Sand, Maurice Sand : marionette de Madame Pétenvert.

La Garnison d’Orléans, Les Deux Capitaines.

Captain

Colonel

Waiter

Widow

Host

Servant

Domestic servant

Allusion to current political events

Comedy of language

Situation comedy

Nous dînons chez le colonel

We are dining at the colonel's

Guignol embarks on a hot-air balloon set for the Moon, in order to escape poverty and make his fiancée’s dreams come true. The balloon takes him first to the Mer de Glace (a glacier in France), then close to the Sun, and finally to the Moon. Guignol is captured by the guards. But when he meets the king of the Moon, he succeeds in convincing him that it would be more profitable for him to keep him as an ally, since he could establish trades between the Moon and the Earth. Guignol also shows the king the power of firearms, which are manufactured on Earth. Firearms being a lot more effective than the low-tech weapons of the Moon, Guignol promises the king that they will help him subdue an enemy neighbour. He is then appointed general. Gnafron and Madelon eventually travel to the Moon too, and the play ends with a feast.

All audiences

Lyon

Manuscript

Cosmic journey

Money

Gas balloon

Parachute

Communication

Bear

Trade

Parodistic

Fantasy

First page of the handwritten manuscript of Guignol dans la Lune

Pièce féerique en 8 tableaux

Guignol

Gnafron

Madelon

Prosecutor

Queen

Prime Minister

Change of social status

Allusion to current literary events

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Dialect as a social marker

Letter

Pyrotechnics

Guignol dans la Lune

Guignol on the Moon

After a prologue in which Casper announces, among other things, that he is going to cut off the ears of children who are not well-behaved, the performance begins. Casper announces that, out of boredom, he wants to become a soldier. He shows his insubordination towards the non-commissioned officer who undertakes to train him by beating him with sticks. The non-commissioned officer sends him to the devil, who arrives: Casper kills him. He returns to his wife, announcing that he will be a general. She hits him with a broom, takes his stick back and they fight.

Sonneberg

Military

Insubordination

Violence

Stick

Wickedness

Broom

Household

Couple

Ironic

Non-commissioned officer

Devil

Prologue

Stichomythia

Blow-with-a-stick

Apparition of the Devil

Domestic scene

Comic equivocation

Casper will Soldat werden

Casper wants to become a soldier

Guignol tells the Directeur (Director) that he thinks highly of theatre. He asks to be introduced to the audience, and jokes with him about being made of wood. Ubu kills the king Venceslas. The Queen dies, and the Ombre (Shadow) of one of her ancestors gives the young prince Bougrelas a sword, so that he can avenge his father. Ubu robs and slaughters Nobles, dismisses the judges and makes them all fall through the trapdoor. Ubu goes fight the Russian army, and Mère Ubu (Mother Ubu) and her accomplice Giron try to steal his treasures while he is away. On the battlefield, Ubu is chased out by the Russian army led by the Tzar. An Ours (bear) attacks general Lascy and prevails. In the meantime, Ubu has taken shelter in a tree. Mère Ubu meets her husband and they both prepare to leave for France. But Bougrelas appears and has them arrested by the Gendarmes (Police), and asks for them to locked up in France and for Père Ubu (Father Ubu)’s brain to be removed.