Madelon is angry with her husband Guignol. Because of his laziness, the garden has turned into a jungle, the harvest has been pitiful, and they have no food to feed the children. Gnafron promises that he will speak with Guignol. He tries to convince his friend to at least repair the spade, but Guignol thinks only of napping and eating. Gnafron then tells him about the magician he has just met. The magician promises Guignol a bountiful harvest, which will require no efforts as he will use herbicides. Guignol is skeptical, but the magician uses hypnosis on him and Gnafron. Now that he is free to act as he pleases, the magician summons his master – the Devil. With the help of his imps, the Devil sprays herbicides all over the land, and turns it into a desert. Madelon comes in with a gigantic cabbage. The magician attempts to convince her that this cabbage is far better than the old ones and that, when everything will taste the same, everyone will think the same and there will be no problems anymore. Madelon drives out the magician. The garden becomes wild again and Guignol wakes up – happy to find everything as it was before. He wishes to cultivate the garden, but Madelon asks him to leave it as it is. When Gnafron wakes up, he and Guignol come to the conclusion that one should be wary of all magicians.

Glove-puppet

Young audiences

France

Bordeaux

Printed

Garden

Vegetables

Pesticide

Ecology

Farming

Hypnosis

Cabbage

Didactic

Fantasy

French

Guignol

Madelon

Gnafron

Magician

Devil

Address to the public

Blow-with-a-stick

Song

Apparition of the Devil

Apparition of a wizard

Sleeping character

Hidden character

Character invisible to some of the other characters

Guignol et le jardin magique

Guignol and the magical garden

Alcide Cervi was a farmer. In 1934 he moved with his family to Gattatico, near Reggio Emilia, on a piece of land called Campirossi ("red fields"), which nobody wanted because it was infertile. He lives there with his nine children: seven boys and two girls. With hard work, they manage to make these fields prosper, and the family can afford to buy a tractor. The Cervi family is known for their anti-fascist political positions. After July 1943, when the Americans landed and Mussolini was arrested, all seemed well. But in November of the same year, a hundred fascists besieged the Campirossi house. The seven brothers try to resist, but they are arrested and eventually executed. As a sign of support and respect, Alcide Cervi never ceased to receive gifts from all sides: a Bible from the Fiat factory workers in Turin, a globe from the agricultural cooperative workers in Santa Vittoria, skittles for his grandchildren from some friends of the boules club. Finally, the puppeteer himself, Maurizio Bercini, wants to give Alcide a gift: a puppet with his features, with which he can transform pain 'into serenity and play'.

Object theatre

Rod puppet

Direct Manipulation Bunraku-type Puppetry

All audiences

Allegri Marina

Italy

Parma

Electronic text

Resistance

Resistance fighter

Partisan struggle

Politics

Capital executions and executors

Fascism

Murder

Brother

Large family

Family

Communism

Friendship

Community

Animated object

Gift

Realist

Italian

I doni di papà Cervi

Musician

Alcide Cervi

Puppeteer

Story

Narrative Theater

Alternating narrative / dialogue

Narrator

Inserting poetry

Avista

Caricature

Dialogue with the audience

Murder on stage

Cide

Cide. Father Cervi's gifts