The Devil Alfredo is in love with Colombine and wants to marry her, but he has cold hands. Arlequin is supposed to help him solve his problem. Before entering the puppet booth, the puppeteer informs the audience that, while tidying up his puppets, he found among them the puppet of a little rabbit, an abandoned orphan. So as not to leave it alone, he takes it with him on tour, placing it in a basket at the entrance to the puppet theatre, which is the devil's house. When the curtain opens, Colombina discovers the foundling: how will she hide it and protect it from the Devil? Meanwhile, the devil decides that to get rid of his cold hands, he must buy a pair of rabbit fur gloves.... Despite his attempts to harm Ginetto, the devil is ultimately defeated and transformed into an onion.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Brunello Gigio

Italy

Mogliano Veneto

Childhood

Devil

Protection

Tenderness

House

Rabbit

Orphan

Foundling

Comical

Humorous

Italian

Arlecchino

Harlequin

Colombina

Colombine

Metamorphosis

Comical regional accent

Talking animal

Avista

Surprise effect

Silent play

Un trovatello a casa del diavolo

An orphan in the devil's house

Ginetto the rabbit is going through an important stage in his growth: his first birthday. However, the devil Alfredo wants to steal the gift that the puppeteer has prepared for Ginetto, “a pair of hands as soft and warm as bread”, hoping to win the love of Colombina, who refuses to marry him because he has cold hands. The devil almost succeeds in his plan, but is fatally transformed into an onion upon contact with water. Colombina cries over the loss of her future husband; Ginetto is sad because his party has been ruined and he no longer wants to grow up. In the end, however, Ginetto grows up and laughs when he thinks about how much he cried because he wanted to remain a child forever.

Not specified

Electronic text

Birthday

Absurd

Festa di compleanno

Metatheatre

Alternating narrative / dialogue

Dialect

Change of size on sight

Music

Pyrotechnics

Trovatello Due

Orphan Two

Jeannot, a child who has a third eye, is adopted by Clémence and Prudent. They take Jeannot to see a doctor who wants to perform surgery on him. Jeannot rebels and a temporary solution is found: his third eye will be blindfolded so that the child can get used to having two eyes and prepare for the future. For a week, Jeannot lives with his eye covered but becomes sick with melancholy. Clémence decides that he will go to school without covering his eye. On the first day, the other children are either surprised or scared, then they are impressed by Jeannot’s “supersonic” eye. Soon enough, they no longer pay attention to that eye, but they pay attention, rather, to what it makes him see. Jeannot contradicts the schoolteacher regarding Romeo and Juliet, and he is chased out of the classroom. Mariette, a classmate, tells him that she shares his point of view. The head of school tells Clémence and Prudent that their son has been expelled for a week. Mariette pays a visit to Jeannot who is stuck in the house, and she reveals to him that she also has a third eye. They dance together until they are interrupted by the arrival of Mariette’s parents. When Jeannot goes back to school, a student mocks him. Mariette defends Jeannot by showing her third eye to everybody in the classroom, which terrifies the schoolteacher, who thinks there is an epidemic. Some parents take legal action and sue for voluntarily contaminating other children. The judge, who is understanding, thinks that Jeannot can see the colour of the human soul thanks to his third eye. Jeannot asks to become an emancipated minor in order to leave on his own, without his parents. His request having been accepted, Jeannot leaves, although it is difficult to accept for Clémence and Mariette. The narrator reveals herself to be Mariette, who has grown old: it is the day of her birthday and she wishes to see Jeannot again more than anything.