Polichinelle and Pierrot rob a vegetable garden every night. The gardener sets up scarecrows. At first, the thieves tremble with fear and give up their loot before they discover the trickery. Then they put on the scarecrows' clothes to scare and hit the Gardener. The Gardener runs away, but he has recognised Pierrot and Polichinelle. He returns disguised as a ghost, but Pierrot and Polichinelle are not fooled and hit him again. When the Gardener wants to prevent Polichinelle from escaping, Polichinelle plants him in a pot with Pierrot's help. The wife frees her husband. They both fill a melon with powder and a wick. Pierrot and Polichinelle, mistaking the wick for a cigar, light it. The explosion sends Polichinelle and Pierrot flying out of the garden, but causes the house to collapse on the Gardener and his wife.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

Printed

Garden

Theft

Vegetables

Scarecrow

Phantom

Fear

Hoax

Rake

Firecracker

Blast

Melon

Trap

Farcical

French

Gardener

Polichinelle

Pierrot

Gardener (woman)

Hidden character

Misunderstanding

Disguise

Plot twist

Blow-with-a-stick

Pyrotechnics

Explosion

Collapse of the set

Le Revenant

The Ghost

Casperl inherits money from his neighbor Frau Bas, who recently died: it's a fortune. He passes a miserable evening, tormented by the idea that people are plotting to steal his money. He even cries out about a fire. The next day, Grethel buys the latest style of toilet, hires a cook… Casperl goes out to drink at the tavern with his friend, the hunter Tomerl. However, when he returns, the notary Stahlfeder is there to announce to the cleaners that Madame Casperl's purchases and the settling of debts with the tavern have exhausted the fortune of Frau Bas—there is nearly nothing left. Casperl throws out the notary and police chief Schnuffler, who came with a fine for nighttime disturbances. He then scarfs down a plate of Knödel that his cook prepared while declaring that he doesn't need money as long as he keeps his good spirits.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Burial

Coffee

Inheritance

Grief

Beer

Wealth

Night

Paranoia

Conflagration

Fashion

Knödel

Comical

Satirical

German

Zwischenspiel in zwei Abteilungen

Kasperl

Madame Kasperl

Thomerl

Hunter

Fireman

Notary

Police officer

Cook

Shopkeeper

Night watchman

Song

Parody of formal language

Off-stage voice

Chorus

Sung scenes

Brawl

Final song

Dance

Current affairs

Die Erbschaft

L'Héritage

Gretl complains about Casperl's absence, as he always comes home late and very drunk. When he finally arrives, she gets angry and wishes he would go to the Gold Star or the Silver Moon (these are the names of the taverns Casperl frequents) and never return. Her wish seems to come true when a small gold star appears to Casperl asleep and takes him against his will to the moon. At the end of an adventurous journey through different regions of the sky, Casperl is welcomed by the moon; but, exhausted, he falls asleep. When he wakes up, he is in his bed. Did his cosmic journey ever take place? No matter: Casperl resumes his tour of the taverns on behalf of the drinkers' association founded the day before and which has elected him inspector of drinking establishments.

Klinger-Schmid Babette

Manuscript

Tavern

Sleep

Journey

Cloud

Spirits

Tempest

Cold

Spaceship

Man in the moon

Dream

Excessive drinking

Flight

Fantasy

Ein Casperlerlebnis in 3 Aufzügen

Star

Moon

Spirit

Divinity

Inhabitants on the moon

Veau lunaire

Monologue

Domestic scene

Word for another

Animated natural element

Thunderbolt

Transforming scenery

Light effects

Instrumental tune

Casperls Mondfahrt

Casperl's moon trip

Jean is worried. Night is coming and he has nowhere to sleep. Tchantchès goes looking for a place to stay the night and, to prevent Jean from getting scared of the dark, he leaves him a bottle of peket (juniper beandy). As soon as Tchantchès has left, Jean empties the bottle and falls asleep. He is awoken by the arrival of the Capitaine (Captain) who tells him that he is looking for a brave knight in order to save Princesse Isabella. Drunk, Jean accepts the challenge. The Capitaine tells him that he needs to perform three tasks. The first test is to prevail over the Chevalier Noir (Black Knight), the second one is to answer two questions asked by Lucifer, and the last one is to fight Death. Jean passes all the tests and frees the princess, who falls in love with her saviour. The King gives Jean a new name, Jean-Sans-Peur (Jean-The-Fearless), offers Jean his daugther’s hand in marriage, and invites him to the castle. Tchantchès comes back to tell Jean that he has found a place to stay for the night, but his master is gone. He learns what happened from the public.

Single rod marionettes

Belgium

Liège

Electronic text

Knighthood

Princess

Peket

Drunkenness

Test

Knight

Devil

Skeleton

Death

King

Captain

Tchantchès

Battlefield scene

Apparition of the Devil

Appearence of Death

Address to the public

Death on stage

Jean le Peureux

Jean The Fearful

Anselme Sablefin, "a man of a certain age", fights against time. He does everything he can to silence the hands of his watch. But they only do as they please, despite his threats and physical attacks. On his birthday, Anselme invites his friend Pascal Beaurivage over and takes out the cake from last year’s birthday, which “had entirely faded and looked all stale and inedible”. Faced with Beaurivage’s sadness, he brings out a second cake, a fresher and mouth-watering one – the birthday cake’s birthday cake. Everytime Anselme cuts a slice, shapes suddenly come out, reminding him of various periods of his life.When Sonia, Beaurivage’s daughter, asks him to cut the last slice of the cake, a huge, red heart and tears suddenly appear. He dies, but comes back to life right after, and they all eat the cake together.

Not specified

Birthday

Nostalgia

Cake

Sadness

Aging

Friendship

Dramatic

Fantastic

Oversized object

Fake death

Running gag

Object coming to life

Blow with an object

Appearance

A Piece of Cake

Un morceau de gâteau

After a prologue where Pulcinella introduces the play and the dog sings a song, Teresina is attacked by a man in the street. The Moon appears to Teresina and calls her to come in a bid to protect her. Pulcinella looks for his beloved but the Moon prevents him from approaching. Pulcinella disguises himself as a woman, he is attacked by the same man as Teresina, and is then pursued by Death disguised as a policeman who wants to tire him out with domestic chores. Pulcinella flies off to the Moon and persuades Teresina to come back with him. Back on Earth, the two lovers take revenge on their attacker, who turns out to be a child calling out to his mother for help, and they eat a dish of spaghetti.