The play begins with a council of Démons (Demons) during which Pluton (Pluto), furious that Antoine (Anthony) is diverting the souls of the Underworld with his prayers, orders the Démons to capture him, and promises a reward for the one who will succeed. Proserpine (Proserpina), his wife, asks for permission to go alone to seduce the hermit. Antoine recognises her immediately and resists her charms. Pluton then tries a different approach, and pretends to be a beggar caught in a storm. Exposed, he asks Antoine to surrender his soul to him, but the hermit reasserts his faith in God. The Démons then appear suddenly, drag Antoine in a hellish dance and set fire to the tail of his Cochon (Pig). They also destroy his hermitage and tell him that they will transform his faithful companion into a sausage. Antoine is exhausted and begs God, who sends down an Ange (Angel) to rebuild the chapel and turn Pluton into a basket of flowers. During the grand finale, Antoine rises to the sky followed by his Cochon.

String marionette

All audiences

France

Printed

Hell

Revenge

Monk

Temptation

Seduction

Belief

Reward

Joke

Miracle

Religious

Comical

Fantasy

French

Pluto

Devil

Proserpina

Prime Minister

Demon

Sculptor monk

Angel

Song

Avista

Chorus

Apparition of demons

Disguised character (false identity)

Change of head on sight

Dance

Demons dance

Thunderbolt

Off-stage voice

Apotheosis

Ascent to heaven

La Tentation de Saint-Antoine

The Temptation of Saint Anthony

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

Scholar

Sorcery

Madness

Humour

Professor

Gluttony

Doctor

Sophism

Morality

Woman

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

Pact with the devil

Misunderstanding

Scene of recognition

Final wedding

Final song

Johann Faust oder der gefoppte Doktor

Johann Faust or the duped doctor

The tenants of a building (a Baroness, a Knight and a Marquis) meet to ask their landlord, Monsieur Dubost, to evict Guignol, another tenant who plays tricks on them. For instance, he ties a cat to a bell-rope, puts a tight string in the stairs so that everyone who walks there falls, nails planks on the door of an apartment and writes “closed due to a death”. The landlord asks that Guignol explain himself and the latter tells him that this is how he takes revenge on his neighbours for what they put him through. Because he cannot evict Guignol since he pays his rent duly, he offers him to change apartments but Guignol requests a hundred ecus to move out. The landlord refuses and then fetches the Bailli (bailiff) to make a complaint. The Bailli wants Guignol arrested and calls two Cavaliers (Knights) to help him. Guignol drives the three of them out by handing them blows with a stick.

Glove-puppet

Vuillerme-Dunand Victor-Napoléon

Paris

Manuscript

Neighbourhood

Expulsion

Relocation

Arrest

Farcical

Les Locataires, manuscript given to the censure authorities, 1866.

Guignol

Landlord

Baroness

Knight

Marquis

Story

Apparition

Argument

Fight

Blow-with-a-stick

Les Locataires

The Tenants

Surprised by a downpour, Prince Alfred and his companion von Edelfels take refuge in Casperl’s household while Grethl waits for her husband to return from the inn. Casperl arrives in a very drunken state and immediately falls asleep. The prince, who had retired with von Edelfels to a nearby hovel, has an idea for a joke. He has the sleeping Casperl taken to a luxurious room, where he is treated with full honours. Soon Casperl does not know whether he is Casperl or Prince Schnuri... Pretending to be his doctor, Prince Alfred gives him a sleeping pill, and Casperl wakes up a few hours later in his old room. Von Edelfels, disguised as a magician, assures him that he is indeed Prince Schnuri, but that as a punishment for being a drunkard he has been turnt into a ‘dumb man’. Casperl finds Grethl and promises to make amends, all while announcing that he will drink many more litres of beer.

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Excessive drinking

Household

Rain

Aristocracy

Luxury

Sausage

Metempsychosis

Black

Magic

Otto von Bismarck

Tavern

Moralische Komödie in drei Aufzügen

Prince

Kasperl

Madame Kasperl

Moorish

Valet

Spying scene

Parody of formal language

Brawl

Pyrotechnics

Board

Current affairs

Incognito

Casperl als Prinz

Casperl prince

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”.

Lemercier de Neuville Louis

Boredom

Poetry

Love

Magnetism

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

Lady

Physician

Monsieur Prudhomme

Music

Inserting poetry

Situation comedy

Sleeping character

Madame Benoiton est indisposée

Madame Benoiton is unwell

Two presenters (Tall Ringmaster and Blue Ringmaster) take turns announcing different acts. A variety of characters enter the scene while two clowns, Tuff and Cream, exchange jokes and riddles. In the second part, horsemen from around the world and from every era ride in one by one.