As he wanders alone in the woods, the knight Wolfdietrich pays tribute to his sword and to his mount, precious allies in his adventures. Suddenly, a monstrous woman calls out to him, and asks him to spend the night with her. When met with an unequivocal and insulting refusal from Wolfdietrich, the woman insists and threatens him, before sentencing him to seven years of sleep. When he awakes, in the same woods but seven years later, he has neither his sword nor his mount, and he has lost his bearings and his senses. The mermaid appears and asks for the same thing again but the young knight refuses again, repelled by her ugliness. Ashamed of being challenged in such a way by a woman, he prefers to ask for his death. The diabolical mermaid refuses, and takes away his sight, his youth and his sanity. Lost and weakened, Wolfdietrich slowly tries to walk, groping around, and singing tirelessly the same refrain about his past achievements. The mermaid loses hope in being one day delivered by the one she loves, and resigns herself to go back and wait for death in her tower next to the Fountain of Youth. Some time later, she hears Wolfdietrich’s voice as he is being followed by people who threaten to hit him. He wants to know who deprived him of his senses and of his youth. He dwells on his past glory before being reduced to silence, stricken with the mermaid’s provocation. The mermaid dives in the Fountain of Youth where she gets her youth and beauty back, as Wolfdietrich gets his sight back. Now dazzling, she reminds him of his wrongdoings when he was a young and handsome knight. Admitting to his mistakes, Wolfdietrich wants to end his life, and throws himself in the fountain, which gives him his youth, his sword and his mount back. The mermaid rewards him for his remorse, and, now that she has been delivered from her evil spells, she can marry him.

Shadow theatre

Not specified

Wolfskehl Karl

Germany

Munich

Printed

Initiation tests

Hero

Fountain of Youth

Courtly love

Ugliness

Fantasy

Didactic

Pathetic

Photo of Rolf von Hoerschelmann's sets and silhouettes for the first scene (with Wolfdietrich and the Rough Els)

German

Knight

Mermaid

People

Apparition of a monster

Magic spell

Monologue

Ellipsis

Aria

Wandering

Metamorphosis

Wolfdietrich und die Rauhe Els

Wolfdietrich and the Rough Els

Worried about his succession, the lion king Maghan listens to the predictions of fortune tellers and marries Sogolon Kédjou, the buffalo-woman, despite her ugliness; he has a son with her, Sunjata, who is destined to be king of Manding. This choice prompts the anger of his first wife, Sassouma Bérété, for Maghan is depriving their son, Dankara Touman, of his prestigious heritage. Young Sunjata grows up, but, at seven years old, still does not walk. The crowd rumbles against this infirm heir, becomes threatening and eventually declares Dankara Touman the head of the kingdom. Growing old, king Maghan, still believing the words of the fortune tellers, entrusts his griot to Sunjata, and by doing so, contests Dankara’s legitimacy. Exasperated, Sassouma Bérété solicits a group of witches to murder young Sunjata, but this plan fails. She demands that the griot be abducted and sent to the court of Manding’s great enemy, Soumaoro Kanté, king of Sosso. After a lively argument with his half-brother Dankara, Sunjata, driven out from the kingdom, goes into exile. He finds refuge at the court of king Mamé where he receives training and becomes a great warrior. In his absence, Soumaoro Kanté has had multiple conquests, thus leading to Dankara Touman taking flight, and to the doom of the kingdom of Manding. Called by his mother who implores him to come back in order to fulfil his destiny, Sunjata returns, applauded by the crowd. Determined, he declares war against Soumaoro Kanté. The griot relates Sunjata’s war exploits and sings his glorious posterity.

Body shadows

France

Strasbourg

Aulnay-sous-bois

Electronic text

Africa

Oral tradition

Legendary King

Tale

Destiny

Bravery

Conquest

Revenge

Griot

Crowd

Infirmity

Music and esotericism

Return

Disability

Epic

Dramatic

Amoros et Augustin and Ki-Yi M'Bock Théâtre, Sunjata, photograph of the performance

French

L'épopée mandingue

Marâtre

King

Choir

Queen

Mother

Witch

Verbal sparring

Pantomime

Instrumental tune

Scene of copulation

Sunjata

Convinced that there are people on the Moon, Pulcinella wonders where they are hiding. The Moon invites him to go to her on a funicular ship. He meets the lunatic Beniamino, who explains that everyone is terrorised and has been hiding since the American astronaut came. This astronaut claims that the Moon belongs to him, and he wants to kill Pulcinella. But Pulcinella sends him back to earth with a blow of a stick. Beniamino asks Pulcinella to look after a dead grandfather, who turns out to be a very beautiful baby. Death convinces Pulcinella to be his baby and sings him lullabies so that he falls asleep, but Pulcinella wakes up and fights Him. A monstrous dog plays with Pulcinella, but he is frightened when the cloned ewe Dolly bites him. Pulcinella kills Dolly and, as a reward, Beniamino offers him his wife Carlotta. Pulcinella chooses instead to marry their daughter Teresina, and he goes back to earth with her.