Mademoiselle (Miss) Félicité, a foreign doctoral student, pays a visit to Morched – a master puppeteer – to buy his puppets. Her request is categorically denied because, in Morched’s eyes, puppetry is ancestral work. However, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the authorities censored traditional Iranian culture and Morched is forbidden from practicing his trade. In spite of this prohibition, he decides to use his puppets one last time to tell the love story between Pahlévâne and Sarvé-Nâz Khânome, which will soon be made impossible because of the Mullahs, who support their friend Mobârak (“a mischievous servant”). Unable to destroy his puppets, Morched – just before he dies – decides to entrust them to Mademoiselle Félicité, who will be able to keep the memory of his work alive.

Actor and puppet

Not specified

France

Printed

Puppeteer

Puppets

Student

Love

Power

Transmission

Religion

Current events

Daily life

Bans

Political context

Death

Comical

Epic

Dramatic

Frédéric de Manassein, cover art for Mémoires d'une marionnette.

French

Journal d'une marionnette

Wife

Servant

Mobârak

Young man

Monster

Horse

King

Prince

Priest

Young woman

Herald

Guard

Deux Balayeurs, Torch-Ali Bak et Chirin-ali Bak (jumeaux)

Twins

Eunuch

Vehicle

Ambassador

Quelques Dignitaires civils et militaires

Dancer

Mise-en-abyme

Dialog between a puppet and its puppeteer

Address to the public

Comedy of language

Comic speech

Multi-voice shouting

Allusion to current political events

Versified passages

Monologue

Hands visible

Apparition of a monster

Death on stage

Mémoires d'une marionnette

Memoirs of a puppet

A flesh-and-blood Pulcinella speaks to the audience about his secret passion for books and, in particular, for Shakespeare's Macbeth. While reading a book and manipulating chess pieces on a small table in front of a castelet, Pulcinella tells the story of Macbeth. At the end, convinced that it's impossible for such a wicked character to die, he casts a spell to keep Macbeth alive. Pulcinella enters in the puppet boots and "Mr. Punch Macbeth" appears on stage.
After hitting his wife Judy and making a sausage with the Baby, Mr Punch-Macbeth meets Hamlet, played by a Pierrot puppet. In an absurd dialogue between the two characters, their stories mingle and Hamlet ends up killing Mr Punch-Macbeth, shouting, « Essere o non essere, non è un problema! » (« To be or not to be isn’t a problem! »). Hamlet falls in love with Juliette, but his brother (a Sicilian pupo) and the puppeteer prevent the marriage of a glove puppet and a marionette. Juliette drinks a potion which makes her appear to be dead. Hamlet swallows a poison which turns him into a glove puppet representing Mobârak (the black valet of the Iranian puppet theater), in the role of Othello.
Othello mistakes Juliette for Desdemona and kills her before remembering that he himself is Romeo. In despair, he commits suicide. Iago enters, interpreted by a puppet with the head of the Neapolitan actor Totò, and proclaims himself king of the wicked. But he is immediately attacked and killed by a Polichinelle playing the part of Richard III. All the characters haunt the sleep of Polichinelle-Richard III: Mr Punch-Macbeth, Hamlet-Romeo, Othello, Iago. In the end, he is pursued by Death, but a horse with Pulcinella’s white hat and black half-mask comes to save him. At this moment, a marotte representing Shakespeare intervenes to bring the show to an end. Accompanied by the song Che cosa sono le nuvole? by Domenico Modugno and Pier Paolo Pasolini, taken from Pasolini's movie of the same name, the puppets make a final appearance on the puppet booth stage.

Full-view manipulation

Armed rod marionette

Marotte

String marionette

Glove-puppet

Object theatre

All audiences

Leone Bruno

Italy

Naples

Manuscript

Wickedness

Evil

Serial murder

Regicide

Impossible love

Jealousy

Plot

Parodistic

Neapolitan

Miscellanea di drammi shakespeariani in guarattellesco by Pulcinella Cetrulo

Pulcinella

Witch

Macbeth

Lady Macbeth

Messenger

Duncan

Banquo

Macduff

Punch

Judy

Hamlet

Romeo

Pierrot

Juliet

Tybalt

Count Paris

Othello

Iago

Totò

Richard III

Polichinelle

William Shakespeare

Public

Crocodile

Sculptor monk

Stabbing

Blow-with-a-stick

Sword fight

Transforming one character into another

Transforming scenery

Storyteller

Thwarted love

Metamorphosis

Fake death

Nightmare

Apparition of Death

Apparition of a ghost

Final song

Spectacular turn of events

Pulchi Shake and Speare