Victor is in love with Clémence, the daughter of the Baron de Fritzierne. Moreover, a long time ago, Victor was found in the forest by the Baron de Fitzierne and raised like his own son. Victor reveals to Clémence that he is not her brother. Clémence is thrilled and believes that they can finally marry. However, Victor wants to run away: he is afraid to ask the Baron for Clémence’s hand, for he is convinced that, without wealth, we will never get his consent. Forban, a bandit, gives Victor a letter that was meant for the Baron, and assures him that it can save his life. Meanwhile, Clémence has revealed everything to her father, who now wants to see Victor. Together, the Baron, Clémence, and Victor read the letter sent by Roger, the leader of the bandits. A few days before, the Baron’s men freed Madame Germain, a woman captured by Roger. The latter now demands that the Baron bring her back to him within twenty four hours, or he will seek revenge. The Baron refuses to yield and asks for his army to be prepared to face Roger. The Baron puts Victor to the test: to marry Clémence, he will have to prove that his parents are honest and honourable people, even if they are poor. The battle starts. Victor fights Roger, but Madame Germain intervenes and saves the bandits’ leader. The Baron asks for explanations. The truth comes out: Roger is actually Victor’s father, and Madame Germain was the friend of his mother Adèle. Adèle had entrusted Madame Germain with a mission: to save her son. Madame Germain had then kidnapped Victor and let him in the forest, where he was found by the Baron. When he had discovered this, Roger, enraged, had killed Adèle. The Baron gives Victor one last chance: if he convinces his father to stop his criminal activities, he will marry Clémence. Victor finds Roger and tells him that he is his son. Roger refuses to give up his lifestyle, even though he loves him. In the end, he sacrifices himself to protect Victor and Clémence when the camp is attacked. Fatally wounded, he asks the Baron in his last breath to not judge Victor because of his lineage, and to approve his union with Clémence.

String marionette

All audiences

France

Printed

Family

Love

Escape

Friendship

Mysterious letter

Threat

Army

Combat

Sacrifice

Relationship between father and son

Forgiveness

Honour

Melodramatic

Heroic

French

Leader

Brigand

Baron

Young man

Old man

Lieutenant

Officer

Soldier

Daughter

Lady

Monologue

Revelation

Letter

Off-stage voice

Aside

Off-stage noise

Battle cries with several voices

Off-stage combat

Fight to the death

Death on stage

Victor ou l'Enfant de la forêt

Victor or the Child of the forest

Kasperl leaves for America on a boat, but is swallowed by a whale that spits him out on an island inhabited by cannibals. They salt him and smear him in whale fat. Attracted by the smell of fat, an eagle kidnaps Kasperl on the verge of being eaten and takes him back to Europe. Kasperl manages to escape and meets a horseman who takes him back to his family. The play ends as a prologue with an invitation to take a seat in front of the puppet theatre for the start of the main performance.

Shadow theatre

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Boat

Navigation

Navy

America

Shipwreck

Fish

Leviathan

Unknown land

Island

Sausage

Beer

Thirst

Hunger

Cannibalism

Savage

Kidnapping

Horse

Fantasy

Comical

German

Kasperl

Baleine

Cannibal

Eagle

Horserider

Madame Kasperl

Child

Play in verse

Chorus

Sung scenes

Macaronism

Unexpected turn of events

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Kasperl bei den Menschenfressern

Kasperl among the anthropophagi

While the Countess von Eichenfels is running to the aid of her husband, who is seriously wounded at the end of a victorious campaign, their only child Heinrich is taken from his cradle by a Gypsy woman, old Juta. Eight years later, Heinrich escapes from the cave where he was held captive by the gypsy band, while the Gypsies are out robbing on the highways. He finds refuge with Menrad, a hermit and a former comrade-in-arms of the Count's squire, Hannes. In pursuit of the robbers, he stops at the hermitage and, with Menrad's help, surprises the two Gypsies who were looking for Heinrich. In the meantime, Juta has been arrested and has confessed everything to the Count. Hannes and Menrad bring Heinrich back to his parents after eight years in captivity.

Infant

Gypsies

Cavern

Lost child

Thief

Dramatic

Count

Countess

Hermit

Prologue

Song

Story

Running away

Transforming scenery

Heinrich von Eichenfels

Two families, the Gobards and the Courbemanches, are driving to visit the military camp in Saint-Maur. On the way, they notice an accident, which sparks their conversation. When they arrive, they meet a Zouave and start talking with him. Later, they go to the camp of the Turcos (African infantrymen) and meet the Tambour-major (Drum major). They are asked to go to dinner: everyone is there apart from Agathe, the servant. The voice of a man as well as laughter can be heard coming from the woods, which scares the family as they were about to start their meal. Agathe returns, but it starts raining and everyone ends up drenched, tired and starving. The Gobards and the Courbemanches call it a night and part ways. Agathe is the only one who seems to have enjoyed the trip.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Lemercier de Neuville Louis

Paris

Bourgeoisie

Journey

Colonial troupe

Algeria

Satirical

Lemercier de Neuville, I Pupazzi. Front cover of the first edition, 1866.

Husband

Wife

Servant

Zouave

Rifleman

Aria

Situation comedy

Comedy of language

Allusion to current political events

Comic distortion of language

Dinner scene

Amphigory

Le Camp de Saint-Maur

Saint-Maur Camp

The scene takes place in the countryside not far from Paris. A wealthy horticulturist, Labouture (literally, The-Cutting), died without writing a will. The Gratin family, distant relatives, claim to be the rightful heirs. After moving in the property, they welcome the notary Dussiflet (literally, Of-the-Whistle), and his nephew Onésime, in charge of the inheritance. Madame Gratin and Dussiflet consider [corriger faute FR] marrying Onésime and Flore, the Gratins’ daughter. When Flore meets Onésime, he is immediately in awe of her beauty, but she thinks that he is neither attractive nor intelligent. Meanwhile, Monsieur Gratin is bathing; when he wants to get out, he cannot find his clothes. Freezing cold, he calls for help. Ledru (literally, The-Thick), Labouture’s godson, enters the house and rescues M. Gratin, mistaking him for Labouture. Jean, the servant, discovers a letter that Ledru had sent to Labouture. Meanwhile, Ledru meets Flore and expresses the wish to marry her. Jean takes advantage of a private moment with Ledru to convince him to chase Gratin out of the house. Ledru writes a fake will in which Labouture states that Ledru is his secret son, and that he splits his goods between Ledru, Jean, and Flore. Madame Gratin inherits a bundle of thorns, and Monsieur Gratin is given the boot that Labouture kicked him with. In the end, the Gratins agree to the wedding of Ledru and Flore.

Maurice Sand (Maurice Sand)

Nohant

Last will and testament

Marrying for money

Inheritance

Burlesque

Fatale baignoire

Merchant (man)

Notary

Gardener

Sergeant

Nephew

Misunderstanding

Reading of a will

Plot twist

Funeste oubli

Macabre omission

Hans is a happy new father but when the infant screams, he beats it. His wife Liesel worries, but she is in denial. Then Hans wants to baptise the child in beer. They quarrel again and eventually agree to call the infant Stiefele (boot), so that it will always have good shoes. The innkeeper Schnallans must prepare a feast, but they do not agree on the menu and Hans beats him to death. A police officer grabs him and wants to hang him, but Hans hangs him instead. Liesel worries because of the double murder which weights on her husband’s conscience and, above all, because there is no one to prepare the feast anymore. Hans settles the matter by fetching a whole Swiss cheese.

Müller Alphons

Frankfurt

Household

Couple

Father

Feast

Party

Meals

Police

Justice

Gallows

Assassination

Serial murder

Cheese

Hanswurst

Farcical

Front cover of the collection Sechs neue Lust-Spiele für das Porzinell-Theater

Idyllisches Lustspiel in einem Akt

Mother

Baby

Innkeeper

Police officer

Murder on stage

Comic equivocation

Hanging scene

Versified passages

Fight

Domestic scene

Die Taufe

The Christening

A Stranger discovers the body of a drowned young girl. Accompanied by an Old Man, he observes by a lighted window the quiet life of the family to which he has to tell the news to as as the procession carrying the drowned girl's body is getting closer.

Maeterlinck Maurice

Belgium

Ghent

Death

Drowning

Silence

Procession

Pity

Spying on

Bad news

Tragic

Foreigner

Granddaugther

Peasant (man)

Crowd

Offstage

Teichoscopy

Silent play

Intérieur

Interior

Arlecchino (Amleto; Hamlet) meets with Facanapa (Orazio; Horatio) and Marcello (Marcelus) on the ramparts to meet his father’s ghost. The thought of it terrifies him, and when the ghost (Lo Spettro in the text) appears, he first refuses to follow him. The ghost reveals that he was killed by his own brother Claudio (Claudius), Arlecchino’s uncle, and asks his son to avenge him while sparing his mother Gertrude, who married Claudio after his death. Arlecchino asks Facanapa and Marcello to swear that they will keep this a secret. Claudio, Gertrude, Brighella (Polonius) and his daughter Ofelia (Ophelia) are talking about Arlecchino’s strange behaviour. Brighella asks Ofelia to speak with him, but Arlecchino is delirious and advises her to join a convent. Arlecchino makes Brighella believe that he is mad, but the latter hides to spy on Arlechinno’s conversation with his mother Gertrude. Arlecchino kills Brighella in his hiding place and reproaches his mother for having married Claudio; but the ghost appears and commands Arlecchino to show Gertrude respect. Laerte (Laertes), Brighella’s son, swears to avenge his father. Gertrude tells Claudio that Arlecchino knows the secret behind his father’s death. Claudio asks Laerte to challenge Arlecchino to a duel, and says that he will put poison on the tip of his sword. Desperate after being rejected by Arlecchino, Ofelia has killed herself. In the cemetery where she is to be buried, the gravedigger (becchino) shows Arlecchino the skull of the jester Yorick. Laerte challenges Arlecchino to avenge both his sister Ofelia and their father Brighella. Arlecchino asks that they swap swords. Wounded, Laerte dies. Gertrude also dies, poisoned by the wine meant for Arlecchino. The latter chases Claudio and kills him; then he falls, telling Facanapa that he too should die. But he gets up, reveals that he was only pretending to be hurt and leaves with Facanapa: the two of them are going to eat polenta. Seeing all these corpses, they lament that they cannot eat them.

Victor ou l'Enfant de la forêt

Kasperl bei den Menschenfressern

Heinrich von Eichenfels

Le Camp de Saint-Maur

Funeste oubli

Fatale baignoire

Die Taufe

Idyllisches Lustspiel in einem Akt

Intérieur

Amleto

ovvero Arlecchino principe di Danimarca

Sur la terre moins qu'au ciel

Ceci n'est pas un nez