Quarlous and Winwife visit the office of their friend John Littlewit, a legal clerk. Both men want to marry Littlewit's mother, Lady Purecraft. They argue over which of them has the better chance of winning her heart. They are joined by other characters, including Bartholomew Cokes, who has come to collect a license to marry Grace Welborn. Littlewit invites the characters to come to the Bartholomew Fair to see the puppet show he has put on. Adam Overdo, a judge and Grace Welborn’s guardian, decides to disguise himself in order to uncover all the crimes committed during the fair. The plot shifts to the popular world of the Smithfield district, and Littlewit’s group soon finds itself confronted with the debauchery of the fair: Overdo is tricked by Mooncalf, a waitress, and Edgworth, a thief. Edgworth then steals money from Bartholomew Cokes. Overdo, in disguise, is suspected of being the thief’s accomplice. Quarlous and Winwife discover that the culprit is none other than Edgworth, and Quarlous hires him to steal Cokes’s marriage license. Overdo, Wasp (a servant of Cokes who caused a brawl) and the false preacher Zeal-of-the-Land Busy are sentenced to the gallows, while Win Littlewit and Mistress Overdo are encouraged to drink to excess. Trouble-All, a madman, has a fit of madness because no arrest warrant has been issued for Overdo, Wasp and Busy. His outburst creates a diversion and the three men manage to escape from their sentence. All the characters go to John Littlewit's puppet show, which brings together the love story of Hero and Leander and the friendship of Damon and Pythias. Zeal-of-the-Land Busy constantly interrupts the show to denounce its immoral and blasphemous nature. Puppet Dionysus puts an end to the debate by pulling up its costume, reminding Busy that puppets have no sex: its status as an "object" prompts Busy to change his mind, transforming him into a model spectator.

Not specified

Jonson Ben

Great Britain

London

Printed

Theatre

Debauchery

Fair

Religion

Love

Friendship

Comical

Farcical

English

Puppeteer

Léandre

Puppet

Waiter

Pythias

Damon

Hero (priestess)

Dionysos

Dialogue between actor and puppet

Undressed character on stage

Punching

Kicking

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Bartholomew Fair

La Foire de la Saint-Barthélemy

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

France

Paris

Magnetism

False doctor

Imposture

Gas balloon

Gascon

Flight

Scientific experimentation

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

Bored, Polichinelle wants to have fun. Pierrot suggests for him to open a theatre, but Polichinelle is penniless. Against the promise of a nice meal, Pierrot takes care of finding the needed money. He makes the Commissaire (Superintendent) and the Gendarme (Constable) believe that Cassandre’s bag of écus is the one that was stolen from him. His trick works, and Pierrot brings the money to Polichinelle who thanks him by beating him with his stick. In his troupe, Polichinelle hires everyone he encounters: they all have a specific talent. This is how Polichinelle’s theatre unveils before our eyes. Being a good director, he calls for the kindness of the audience.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Desnoyers Fernand

Boredom

Actor

Money

Satirical

Alphonse Legros, engraving for Fernand Desnoyers' Le Théâtre de Polichinelle, 1861

Prologue en vers pour l'ouverture du Théâtre de marionnettes dans le jardin des Tuileries

Polichinelle

Pierrot

Cassandre

Police Superintendant

Constable

Mother Gigogne

Pastry chef

Apothecary

Magician

Death

Arlecchino

Colombine

Devil

Fairy

Blow-with-a-stick

Address to the public

Captatio benevolentiae

Le Théâtre de Polichinelle

Polichinelle's Theatre

Nigot (Simpleton), M. Pigetout (literally, Mr Understands-Everything) and M. Machin (Mr Thing) are having lunch together and waiting for M. X…, the author who is supposed to bring the manuscript. However, when M. X… arrives, he is forbidden to enter. Later, M. Forfrais [play on words between “forfait” (flat rate) and “frais” (cost/fee)] , the treasurer, and M. Machin, director of the theatre, have a meeting during which they count the money they made from the performances. M. Machin needs a great sum of money to stage the performance with the leading actor M. Chose (Mr Stuff). Shortly after, M. Chose arrives and asks M. Forfrais for ten thousand francs; the latter tells him that the performance he was hired for has been cancelled and offers to buy his royalties. Then, M. X… visits M. Forfrais and asks for an advance on his royalties. M. Forfrais also suggests for him to drop his share of royalties and tickets for a hundred francs. The young author signs the agreement. M. Chose wishes to modify the play so that his character is constantly on stage; M. Pigetout decides to write to M. X… and asks him to rewrite the play. The play is very successful, but when M. Chose mentions the producers of the performance, he omits the author, who was not even able to see the performance.

Lemercier de Neuville Louis

Meals

Playwright

Stardom

Show

Manipulation

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

Director of the theatre

Author

Artist

Technician

Treasurer

Servant

Child

Passer-by

Audience

Situation comedy

Theatre within the theatre

Current affairs

Aside

Criticism of actors' theatre

Le Vrai Bonhomme

The Real Man

In Bavaria, Kaspar learns that Professor Johann Christoph Gottsched is conspiring against him. He goes to Leipzig to work as a servant, under a false name, in the house of Gottsched and his friend, the actress and theatre director Caroline Neuber. During a performance, Caroline Neuber symbolically banishes Kaspar’s character from the stage and dismisses the actor who successfully played him, Silvio. But Gottsched's ward, Lucinde, is in love with the actor: the two young people defy Gottsched's dismissal and marry in secret. In search of a new actor to play the comic role in a play by the student Gotthold Ephraim, Caroline Neuber offers the position to Kaspar, who declines and then reveals his true identity. The actress breaks up with Gottsched and hires Silvio again, as well as Lucinde. Kaspar is arrested by the Bavarian policeman Stadelmann, who has set out after him, but is finally released by Gotthold Ephraim and is praised by the entire audience.

Bartholomew Fair

Figaro, directeur de marionnettes

Le Théâtre de Polichinelle

Prologue en vers pour l'ouverture du Théâtre de marionnettes dans le jardin des Tuileries

Le Vrai Bonhomme

Kaspar stirbt nicht!

Puppenkomödie aus dem alten Leipzig