Rosalinde, dressed as a male student, enters Doctor Faust’s home and gives him a book of magical spells. As a consequence, Faust believes he is making a deal with the devil, but he is in fact the victim of a trick orchestrated by the young woman, who conspired with Faust’s houseboy – Hans Wurst. When Satan comes back at midnight, he tells Faust that he has no intention of keeping his promises, and that the poor man has sold his soul for nothing. And yet, he grants him a final trial, which could save him from Hell: Faust must resist the gorgeous Helen of Troy. But he gives in the moment that she appears to him. Rosalinde then reveals that she was both the devil and the beautiful Helen: it is to her that he has devoted his body and soul. The play ends with two weddings, as Rosalinde’s servant, Lisette, is Hans Wurst’s sweetheart.

Not specified

Germany

Augsburg

Printed

Scholar

Sorcery

Madness

Humour

Professor

Gluttony

Doctor

Sophism

Devil

Joke

Morality

Woman

Seduction

Comical

Parodistic

Satirical

Title page of the play in Johann Scheible's Das Kloster (1847)

German

Faust

Hanswurst

Domestic servant

Student

Helen of Troy

Monologue

Aside

Disguise

Cross-dressing

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Sung scenes

Word for another

Chorus

Pact with the devil

Misunderstanding

Scene of recognition

Final wedding

Final song

Johann Faust oder der gefoppte Doktor

Johann Faust or the duped doctor

In Bavaria, Kaspar learns that Professor Johann Christoph Gottsched is conspiring against him. He goes to Leipzig to work as a servant, under a false name, in the house of Gottsched and his friend, the actress and theatre director Caroline Neuber. During a performance, Caroline Neuber symbolically banishes Kaspar’s character from the stage and dismisses the actor who successfully played him, Silvio. But Gottsched's ward, Lucinde, is in love with the actor: the two young people defy Gottsched's dismissal and marry in secret. In search of a new actor to play the comic role in a play by the student Gotthold Ephraim, Caroline Neuber offers the position to Kaspar, who declines and then reveals his true identity. The actress breaks up with Gottsched and hires Silvio again, as well as Lucinde. Kaspar is arrested by the Bavarian policeman Stadelmann, who has set out after him, but is finally released by Gotthold Ephraim and is praised by the entire audience.

Glove-puppet

Schmidt-Ziegler Tilla

Leipzig

Conspiring

Bavaria

Literary criticism

Theatre

Reformation

Impossible love

Rationality

Women's condition

Pigtail

Wedding

Puppenkomödie aus dem alten Leipzig

Kasperl

Madame Kasperl

Policeman

Johann Christoph Gottsched

Neuberin

Cook

Pasteur

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Off-stage voice

Metatheatre

Love story

Versified passages

Philosophical dialogue

Dance

Kaspar stirbt nicht!

Kaspar does not die!

Two actors, first dressed up as gorillas, relate murders using a ventriloquist dummy and paper toys. The killers – represented by articulated heads – confess the reasons behind their crimes and reveal several details: the arms they used, the time it took for the victims to die, or the amount of blood they shed. They killed out of vengeance, passion, or even because of daily trivial conflicts. The killers’ heads often wear banners asking for forgiveness, and some crimes are told using shadow theatre. After reading each story, the actors stop to sing a nursery rhyme and play a clapping game. The show ends with a murder on stage.