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

Guignol – a ragman – is upset as he finds nothing to resell. He comes across Gnafron, who is sleeping. Guignol is engaged to Louison – Gnafron’s daughter – but the three of them are lazy and penniless. They find a poster of the aeronaut Baloffet, who is about to take off for the Moon in a balloon and offers two thousand francs to whoever will go with him. Guignol volunteers and shares half of the advance on the reward with Gnafron. Louison is staying with her father and reproaches him for spending all the money he makes repairing shoes on wine. But the Bailli (bailiff) comes in and offers Gnafron twenty francs so that he shares with him the letters Guignol will send from the Moon. The balloon flies over a few forests then lands in the North Pole, before finally taking off for the Moon. Louison reads out Guignol’s first letter to the Bailli: Guignol is still on his way. On the Moon, the King and Queen attend a party where “mechanised dancers” are performing. Some guards bring in Guignol, who has just arrived. The King and Queen show him their wings. They are surprised to see that Guignol does not have any. They first consider putting him in a cage, but instead they ask him questions about life on Earth and how he travelled to the Moon. Guignol offers to establish business relationships between the Moon and the Earth. The King’s subjects revolt. Having been impressed by the gun Guignol carries, the King appoints him general-in-chief of his army. Guignol sends Baloffet back to Earth so that he brings Louison and Gnafron, who were already packing their things. Back on the Moon, Guignol has defeated the rebels, and he celebrates his victory by drinking wine. The Queen privately confesses her love to him. Gnafron and Louison have arrived on the Moon and come celebrate Guignol’s victory too. Gnafron is appointed as the King’s sommelier and the plays ends with a grand finale and a last verse.

Glove-puppet

Josserand père Louis

Lyon

Manuscript

Moon

Meals

Wine

Celebrity

Misery

Revolt

Seduction

Scatology

Fantasy

Guignol dans la Lune

Guignol

Gnafron

Inhabitants on the moon

Bailli

Prime Minister

Aeronaut

Queen

Guard

Teichoscopy

Song

Off-stage voice

Letter

Ellipsis

Aside

Apotheosis

Versified passages

Flying machine

Word warping

Le Voyage de Guignol dans la Lune

Guignol travels to the Moon

Incarcerated for his debts, Casperl is freed from prison by a small child, Capricerl, who is the guide of Fortuna, the blind goddess. While being pursued, Casperl finds refuge with Klaus, a hermit who reveals himself to be the Devil. However, Fortuna bet against Bios, the genie of life, that her gifts could make someone happy: Casperl will be her guinea pig. She repels the Devil and makes Casperl win the lottery. But the newly rich man is tyrannical and angry to the point of becoming sick. He goes so far as to miss the simple and modest life he once had, and curses his fortune. The goddess understands her defeat and brings him back to his normal self. Casperl goes to the inn.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Despair

Thirst

Destiny

Debt

Happiness

Blindness

Widower

Jail

Philosophy

Grief

Breaking out

Latin Mythology

Bingo

Tavern

Burlesque

German

Kasperl im Schuldturm

Genie

Goddess of Fortune

Kasperl

Innkeeper

Old man

Hermit

Devil

Police officer

Verschiedene Erscheinungen und Verwandlungen

Apparition

Allegory

Apparition of the Devil

Pact with the devil

Word for another

Thunderbolt

Chorus

Story

Metatheatre

Metamorphosis

Transforming scenery

Address to the public

Slaps

Das Glück ist blind

Luck is blind

The show is divided into two parts. In the first part, Joseph and Mary arrive at Tirisiti's inn, who refuses to give them shelter. This is followed by the traditional episodes of the angel’s appearance, the nativity, the adoration of the shepherds and the Magi. During the flight to Egypt, the Holy Family finds refuge under a palm tree which conceals them from the eyes of their pursuers. The Captain of the soldiers interrogates the farmers who tell him that they saw the fugitives passing by while they were sowing. At that moment, the wheat sprouts miraculously, confusing the soldiers who give up the pursuit. The tree opens its palms and reveals the Holy Family who continue on their way.
The second part, the one with secular action, is divided in six scenes with situations and characters from Alcoy. The Night watchman announces the time and wakes up the characters one after the other. Tirisiti comically presents the local community on its way to mass. An old man argues with the altar boy who holds the church door. Tirisiti sends his wife Tereseta to mass, who exchanges a kiss with the sacristan, but the crowd warns her husband about it. The community leaves the church at the end of the mass, while Tirisiti is repeating his comments. A bull appears and threatens Tirisiti. The famous bullfighter Clásico makes some bullfighting passes in front of Tirisiti who boasts that he can do better than him. A chase begins between the bull and Tirisiti. The bells ring, announcing the march of Moors and Christians who come forward, as in the traditional Alcoy festival. The city's patron saint, Saint Jordi, appears on top of the castle. Tirisiti decides to leave the city, packs his bags and leaves for the Moon in a hot-air balloon. But the hot-air balloon bursts and Tirisiti falls with it.

All audiences

Pepe Esteve el Betlemero (Josep Esteve, aka el Betlemero)

Spain

Alcoy

Crib

Swazzle

Custom

Nativity

Folklore

Popular theatre

Spanish bullfighting

Party

Mass (liturgy)

Daily life

Comments

Bullfighting

Christmas

Visitation Festival

Satirical

Religious

Didactic

Catalan

Virgin Mary

Melchior

Wise Men (Biblical Magi)

Shepherd

Soldier

Night watchman

Grand-father

Sacristan

Bullfighter

Bull

Saint George

Moorish

Joseph

Jesus

Angel

Caspar

Balthazar

Captain

Choirboy

Christian

Ploughman

Narrator

Dialogue with the audience

Fight with an animal

Chase

Christmas carol

Instrumental tune

Improvised dialogue

Current affairs

El Betlem de Tirisiti

La crèche de Tirisiti

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.

Excessive drinking

Cosmic journey

Money

Parachute

Communication

Bear

Trade

Army

Parodistic

First page of the handwritten manuscript of Guignol dans la Lune

Pièce féerique en 8 tableaux

Madelon

Prosecutor

Change of social status

Allusion to current literary events

Dialect as a social marker

Pyrotechnics

Guignol on the Moon

Faggiolino and Sganapino are two miners on their way to work. Two burglars break into their house but, finding nothing to steal, set fire to it. When Faggiolino discovers this, he wants to commit suicide, but his good Genie descends on a cloud to tell him that the whole court of Granada is in mourning because Aurora, the King's daughter, has been turned into a shadow by the evil Genie. To stop this transformation, Faggiolino must travel to the Sun and the Moon to bring the king two talismans: a crown made of a sunbeam and a cloak studded with stars. Faggiolino travels on a hot-air balloon, and the gods Mars, Mercury and Morpheus help him to take possession of the talismans which he brings back to the king. After a fight between the two Genies, the Princess is transformed and the show ends with the celebration of her marriage to Faggiolino.

Figaro, directeur de marionnettes

Le Voyage de Guignol dans la Lune

Das Glück ist blind

El Betlem de Tirisiti

Guignol dans la Lune

Pièce féerique en 8 tableaux

L'ascensione di Faggiolino nel regno del Sole e nel mondo della Luna

Armstrong

Die abenteuerliche Reise einer Maus zum Mond