The Roi and the Reine de Mars (King and Queen of Mars) wait for the arrival of a prodigious being, Matoum, but he is preceded by his doppelganger, the impostor Tévibar. While the poems told by Matoum bring light and colour to the planet, those delivered by Tévibar prompt melancholy and gloominess. During the sparring match between the two poets, Tévibar makes the Reine faint and the Roi die, but Matoum brings them back to life before flying to Earth to take part in the war.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Albert-Birot Pierre

France

Paris

Italy

Rome

Printed

Science fiction

Poetry

Mars Planet

Impostor

Vanguard

Seduction

Unwelcome seducer

Fainting

Miraculous cure

Resurrection

Ascension

Futurism

Comical

Fantasy

Satirical

Pierre Albert-Birot, Matoum et Tévibar, edition SIC, 1919 (cover)

French

or the enlightening and recreational Story of the true and fake poet

Prologue

Address to the public

Sticking

Interrupting

Misunderstanding

Song

Transforming scenery

Light effects

Blow-with-a-stick

Fight

Metamorphosis

Matoum et Tévibar

Matoum and Tévibar

The Wiseman Weitschuss has built a rocket to go to Mars. When Kasperl messes with the buttons, he accidentally causes the rocket to take off. He arrives on the red planet, where he teaches German to Martian Zweikopf, who brings him before the king. The latter wants to inspect the rocket and, pushing the wrong button, flies to Earth. The king is treated as an exotic creature and is exhibited at the zoo while the rocket returns to Mars. Kasperl escapes the vengeance of the Martians and returns to his parents.

String marionette

Schuster Ludwig

Germany

Rocket

Glory

Curiosity

Exoticism

Otherness

Communication

Journey

Hazard

Hunger

Accident

Couch

Fall

Didactic

German

Marionettenspiel in sechs Aufzügen

Kasperl

Father

Mother

Engineer

Tamer

Martian

Minister

Monster

Imaginary language

Plot twist

Comic equivocation

Flying machine

Apparition of a monster

Falling from hangers

Fake death

Die Fahrt zum Mars

Le voyage sur Mars

During the prologue, a traffic policeman expresses his boredom to the children in the audience. Kasper arrives and, at the request of the policeman, decides to tell a story, the one depicted in the play. The robot dwarf CR 93, known as Blinky, came from the Milky Way and wanted to take part in a rally on the planet Mars, but a computer error caused him to land in Kasper's town. His on-board computer has to be repaired quickly as his battery is almost empty. Carelessly crossing the street, Blinky is saved by Gretl and the Policeman. While Kasper, Gretl and the Policeman teach Blinky how to cross the street safely, the brigand Atze tries to steal the battery to sell it at the flea market, but Kasper and his friends get Atze arrested, fix the computer and even allow the robot nicknamed "Blinki" to exchange a few last words with an emergency call station the Martian has fallen in love with, before the latter leaves.

Young audiences

Klusen Peter

Boredom

Computer

Milky Way

Road safety

Impossible love

Cosmic journey

Humorous

Fantastic

Ein Kasperlespiel nicht nur zur Verkehrserziehung

Policeman

Thief

Robot

Voice

Off-stage voice

Personification

Aria

Trap

Naive character deceived

Metatheatre

Intervention of the audience

Besuch aus dem Weltraum

Visite de l'espace

In 2111, Sascha, who was born on Earth, makes her first trip to Mars to visit her grandmother who lives in an Earth colony. She is talking on her personal computer. Suddenly, Yuri Gagarin appears: he is a hologram created by the computer, but Yuri believes that he is a real person. Hearing that Sascha misses her friends on Earth, the computer turns the spaceship around and sends it back to its starting point. Sascha wants the ship to continue towards its original direction, but the computer refuses. Yuri shows Sascha which button to press to restart the computer, but the computer makes it disappear. The play ends when the ship arrives on Mars.