Pierrot has just arrived in the Underworld after being hanged. Pluton (Pluto) tasks him with judging newcomers. Pythagore (Pythagoras), a Poète (Poet), a Financier, a Coquette, an Actrice d’Opéra (Opera Actress) and a Médecin (Doctor) go before him. Each is put in an unexpected group (the comedians for Pythagore, the false witnesses for the Poète, the coach drivers for the financier, etc.).

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

France

Paris

Printed summary

Hell

Judge

Judgment

Rivalry of theatres

Life of the theatres

Swindling

Medicine

Comical

Satirical

Manuscrit of Pierrot arbitre (BnF, Ms Fr 9313).

French

Pierrot

Pluto

Pythagoras

Poet

Financier

Coquette

Actress

Physician

Play with drawers

Final song

Surprise effect

Aria

Pierrot arbitre

Pierrot arbitrator

Punch is furious because his sister, Mopsa, has been insulted. He offers to avenge her, but Mopsa prefers to go to court to ask their father, the magistrate Gormoncho, to punish the insult. Gormoncho comes on. The stage direction states that he should be wearing regalia, but that thieves have attacked the puppeteers on their way to the city and have stolen it. In court, Wyario, the clerk, reads Gormoncho an accusation against unknown people for robbing the regalia. The magistrate promises to punish the thieves, and moves on to the next case – Mopsa’s complaint. Mopsa accuses Alanio of having sung a bawdy song under her window. Alanio bursts into the room attended with two constables: it turns out that the thief is none other than Gormoncho himself.

Ireland

Printed

Revenge

Thief

Morality

Burlesque

English

Magistrato

Clerk

Daughter

Constable

Sergeant

Arrest scene

Court scene

Burlesque upon Magistracy; or, Punch out of Humour

Don Juan murders Don Pietro, who came running to his daughter Anna’s aid for a villain had tried to seduce her by night and, failing to do so, attempted to abduct her. In the following scene, Don Juan receives two successive visits. His servant Hans turns out the first visitor – a creditor asking for his money – while his master hides. Then a judge with a court clerk comes to investigate the death of Don Pietro. Don Juan pretends to be someone else. He then undertakes to leave town incognito by changing clothes with Hans, who boasts about his new role as the master. As the judge nearly recognises them, Don Juan kills him. The two fugitives reach the cemetery, where Don Juan asks Hans to invite Don Pietro’s statue. The ghost agrees and comes over. Don Juan refuses to repent. Hans, to whom the ghost assured there was nothing to fear, follow them to the cemetery out of curiosity, and he sees his master walk into hell.

Austria

Innsbruck

Assassination

Murder

Deaf

Creditor

Debt

Seduction

Abduction

Fart

Laziness

German

Innsbrucker Don Juan

Don Juan

Hanswurst

Don Pietro

Anna

Domestic servant

Debtor

Bourgeois

Serf

Soldier

Ghost

Devil

Misunderstanding

Disguise

Role reversal

Running gag

Word for another

Comical regional accent

Murder on stage

Political allegory

Play in verse

Running away

Replacement of one character by another

Guignol tries to sell a bundle of little sticks carried by his donkey. The barber Pommadin tries to negotiate the price, but Guignol refuses. Pommadin ends the deal and pays the price required by Guignol, but he requests everything that the donkey carries. Guignol agrees, but Pommadin takes the stick that was holding everything together. Guignol complains to the burgomaster, but he sides with Pommadin. Guignol goes to Pommadin’s barber shop and asks for him and one of his friends to be shaved, reassuring Pommadin that he will pay for both of them in advance. Pommadin takes the money, and Guignol comes back with his donkey and forces Pommadin to shave it. The burgomaster is called again, but this time, he sides with Guignol. Pommadin wants the donkey out of his shop and thus has to reimburse and compensate Guignol. An Apothicaire (Apothecary) sells Guignol a remedy that will make his donkey obedient. A Marchande (Female Merchant), Marie, complains to Guignol that the donkey destroyed her crystal and porcelain shop, and they argue. Guignol and Niafron run away to go and have lunch together out of the city.

Glove-puppet

Mourguet Laurent

Lyon

Donkey

Beard

Trade

Deceived deceiver

Farcical

Le Marchand de picarlats (Vuillerme-Dunant's manuscript), Fonds Léopold Dor.

Le Marchand de génevottes; Le Marchand de fagots; Le Marchand de cotrets.

Guignol

coiffeur

Bourgmestre

Apothecary

Merchant (woman)

Monologue

Dialect as a social marker

Comic distortion of language

Deceived naivety

Fight with an animal

Plot twist

Le Marchand de picarlats

The picarlats Merchant

Two hungry lawyers are looking for clients by all means. One would like to urge Pierrot, the other Mme Bégriche to sue anyone under any pretext. But they refuse, flee and then hit the lawyers. The two lawyers join forces to create a dispute: one kills Pierrot's cat and accuses Mme Bégriche of the crime, while the other kills Mme Bégriche's parrot and blames the cat. Dragged to court by their lawyers, the two plaintiffs, victims of the Commissaire's stupidity, were sentenced to be hanged. But they escape without paying any fees and beat up the lawyers who are chasing them. The two lawyers blame each other for this failure and fight to death.

All audiences

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

Hunger

Lawyer

Trial

Speech for the defense

Parrot

Injustice

Crime

Latin

False testimony

Discord

Parodistic

Police Superintendant

Animal

Blow-with-a-stick

Chase

Fight to the death

Parodic trial

Hanging scene

Les Plaideurs malgré eux

The Plaintiffs in spite of themselves

Casper is accused by a farmer of stealing his hay and the cart and cow that went with it. He tries to bargain over the compensation and settles the matter with a stick. In court, he insults the judge and beats the policeman. The peasant asks for him to be hanged, but Casper finds out and hangs him instead. Then he beats the policeman again. The judge wants him tortured and executed, but Casper beats him to death.

Young audiences

Germany

Sonneberg

Justice

Theft

Retribution

Punishment

Gallows

Torture

Police

Jail

Prosecution

Violence

Embezzlement

Silliness

Wickedness

Insubordination

Ironic

Kasperl

Policeman

Peasant

Address to the public

Versified passages

Flying machine

Stichomythia

Foul language register

Comic equivocation

Epilogue

Casper soll ins Gefängnis kommen

Casper must go to jail

Jeannot, a child who has a third eye, is adopted by Clémence and Prudent. They take Jeannot to see a doctor who wants to perform surgery on him. Jeannot rebels and a temporary solution is found: his third eye will be blindfolded so that the child can get used to having two eyes and prepare for the future. For a week, Jeannot lives with his eye covered but becomes sick with melancholy. Clémence decides that he will go to school without covering his eye. On the first day, the other children are either surprised or scared, then they are impressed by Jeannot’s “supersonic” eye. Soon enough, they no longer pay attention to that eye, but they pay attention, rather, to what it makes him see. Jeannot contradicts the schoolteacher regarding Romeo and Juliet, and he is chased out of the classroom. Mariette, a classmate, tells him that she shares his point of view. The head of school tells Clémence and Prudent that their son has been expelled for a week. Mariette pays a visit to Jeannot who is stuck in the house, and she reveals to him that she also has a third eye. They dance together until they are interrupted by the arrival of Mariette’s parents. When Jeannot goes back to school, a student mocks him. Mariette defends Jeannot by showing her third eye to everybody in the classroom, which terrifies the schoolteacher, who thinks there is an epidemic. Some parents take legal action and sue for voluntarily contaminating other children. The judge, who is understanding, thinks that Jeannot can see the colour of the human soul thanks to his third eye. Jeannot asks to become an emancipated minor in order to leave on his own, without his parents. His request having been accepted, Jeannot leaves, although it is difficult to accept for Clémence and Mariette. The narrator reveals herself to be Mariette, who has grown old: it is the day of her birthday and she wishes to see Jeannot again more than anything.