Figaro argues with Suzanne, his wife, because he wants to open a puppet theater. He brings his ill daughter, Friquette, to Paris. She recovers thanks to Doctor Fluidas, a neighbor who accompanies her every day to magnetism sessions. She agrees to help her father in his new undertaking, while Suzanne refuses to be convinced. Friquette confesses to her father that she is in love with a young man. She is enamored with L’Enfumé (The Tricked One), a student physicist, whom she has not seen for four days. Upon L’Enfumé’s arrival in the city, Friquette blames him for his absence, but he explains that it is due to his preparation to fly in a balloon that has her name written on it in golden letters. Fluidas announces that doctors have forbidden his magnetism sessions because he is an impostor. After an accident with the balloon he was supposed to fly in, L’Enfumé is robbed of the money left from the subscription that he started for its construction. Figaro convinces everybody to join him in his puppet theater project.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

France

Paris

Printed

Theatre

Magnetism

False doctor

Imposture

Gas balloon

Gascon

Flight

Scientific experimentation

Comical

E. D., Figaro, directeur de marionnettes, 1785.

French

Figaro

Physicist

Physician

Aria

Monologue

Argument

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Comical regional accent

Revelation

Final song

Figaro, directeur de marionnettes

Figaro, puppet director

Madame Benoiton calls the doctor Prudhomme, as she says that she is unwell. However, she refuses to specify where she is hurting, only declaring that she is suffering. Facing this lack of information, the doctor prescribes her a course of treatment in either Vichy or the Pyrenees. Madame Benoiton refuses, saying that there, “we are bored to death”. Prudhomme then suggests sea bathing, but she also refuses because it would impose three toiletry changes and dance parties every day. Puzzled, the doctor finally diagnoses her with something: he advises her to find a “toy”. She admits that she feels a void in her heart. He believes that she is in love with him and starts wooing her. They discover that Madame Benoiton enjoys poetry. Prudhomme recites a madrigal that he used a lot when he was younger; even after this, Madame Benoiton is not satisfied. Prudhomme offers to hypnotise her. When she falls asleep, he questions her and discovers that her heart suffers… because of him. The doctor is the cause of her troubles. Moved, he kneels before her and declares his love. To his surprise, Madame Benoiton bursts into laughter. He realises that she was not asleep but that she followed his first advice: to find a “toy”.

Glove-puppet

Lemercier de Neuville Louis

Woman

Boredom

Doctor

Poetry

Love

Joke

Satirical

Lemercier de Neuville, illustration for Madame Benoiton est indisposée, 1868.