Conrad, Mattéo, and Stella are in the catacombs. Conrad insists that Mattéo, the servant who accompanied them, leave. Once alone, Conrad forces Stella to swear that she loves him. She trembles in fear, and he thinks that it is proof of a lie; his suspicion comes from a letter he discovered, written by Stella for a certain Strozzi but that she never sent. In a fit of jealousy, he abandons her after cutting the thread that showed them the way out of the catacombs. Stella tries to find the exit, but she collapses in the darkness. A silhouette appears. Four years later, in an inn, Conrad encounters a stranger who seems to recognise him. The stranger introduces himself as Cagliostro, a friend who came to rescue him. He promises to see Conrad again on the day of his wedding with Mathilde de Sarnen, with whom he is in love. Before he leaves, Cagliostro gives Conrad a hammer, a mask, and a rose, and gives him a place and time. At the convent of Aarau, Mathilde de Sarnen asks the abbess Marie de Rudenz for permission to go and see her fiancé. When she discovers the name of the man Mathilde loves, Marie is incredibly furious and forbids their union. Conrad, wearing a mask, slips inside the convent and when he sees Marie, he recognises… Stella. She tries to clarify the letter that caused his jealousy, but Conrad says that he came here for his fiancée, Mathilde. Enraged, Marie threatens to kill Mathilde if he tries to leave with her. She assures him that everything obeys her in the convent, and proves her power. To stop her from ordering him, Conrad fatally hits her throat. The wedding between Mathilde de Sarnen and Conrad de Caldorf is to take place soon. However, Mathilde is suspicious of her fiancé and keeps her distance: she thinks that he murdered Marie. Cagliostro promises Conrad that he will fix everything. He pretends that Marie’s murderer has been caught. Mathilde is now reassured and feels more peaceful. Later, Marie’s ghost appears in front of Conrad. Terrified, he screams, which alerts the guests. Amongst them is the count Henri, who bursts out laughing because of Conrad’s fear. Furious, Conrad challenges him to a duel. Before the duel, the Nonne Sanglante (Bloody Nun)–Marie’s ghost–kills Henri and promises Conrad to find him on his wedding night. During the wedding night, Conrad sees the Nonne Sanglante sitting on the bed next to Mathilde. Frightened, he tries to kill Marie, but blinded by his fear, he fatally hits his wife. The Nonne offers him to run away after setting the building on fire to hide Mathilde’s murder. Conrad pretends to agree, but he locks up the Nonne in the burning building.

String marionette

All audiences

France

Printed

Darkness

Love

Jealousy

Death

Supernatural

Masque

Convent

Revenge

Ball

Phantom

Duel

Conflagration

Melodramatic

Dramatic

Fantastic

French

Lover

Ghost

Count

Cagliostro

Domestic servant

Servant

Innkeeper

Maid

Guests

Failed suicide

Off-stage noise

Music

Avista

Death on stage

Apparition of a ghost

Song

Off-stage voice

Murder on stage

Fire

La Nonne sanglante

The Bloody Nun

Casperl inherits money from his neighbor Frau Bas, who recently died: it's a fortune. He passes a miserable evening, tormented by the idea that people are plotting to steal his money. He even cries out about a fire. The next day, Grethel buys the latest style of toilet, hires a cook… Casperl goes out to drink at the tavern with his friend, the hunter Tomerl. However, when he returns, the notary Stahlfeder is there to announce to the cleaners that Madame Casperl's purchases and the settling of debts with the tavern have exhausted the fortune of Frau Bas—there is nearly nothing left. Casperl throws out the notary and police chief Schnuffler, who came with a fine for nighttime disturbances. He then scarfs down a plate of Knödel that his cook prepared while declaring that he doesn't need money as long as he keeps his good spirits.

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Burial

Coffee

Inheritance

Grief

Beer

Wealth

Fear

Night

Paranoia

Fashion

Knödel

Comical

Satirical

Farcical

German

Zwischenspiel in zwei Abteilungen

Kasperl

Madame Kasperl

Thomerl

Hunter

Fireman

Notary

Police officer

Cook

Shopkeeper

Night watchman

Parody of formal language

Chorus

Sung scenes

Brawl

Final song

Dance

Current affairs

Die Erbschaft

L'Héritage

The action is set in Châteauroux in 1875. Friturin the innkeeper is going away for a few days, leaving his wife Ursule alone with two servants, Jean and Mariette. A female traveller, Corisande, arrives at the inn but has to share a room with Madame Friturin. Another traveller, Balandard, claims a bed in a shared room that happens to be the one where Corisande sleeps. Balandard cannot sleep because of the snoring of “his neighbour”, and, not knowing that it is actually Corisande, he shakes her up. Thinking that the aggression comes from Madame Friturin, Corisande protests. After quarrelling, they switch beds. Jean, who is in charge of waking up Corisande so that she can take her diligence, gets confused and wakes up Balandard. Corisande misses her diligence and because she believes that Madame Friturin is next to her, she accuses her of not having woken her up. Eventually, the misunderstanding is revealed. Balandard agrees to drive Corisande to La Châtre after having slept. When Monsieur Friturin comes back sooner than expected, he finds a man in his wife’s bed. While this happens, a fire sets off in the inn.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Maurice Sand (Maurice Sand)

Nohant

Couple

Journey

Fighting

Ironic

Eugène Lambert, George Sand, Maurice Sand : Corisande puppet

Les Oignons de Jeu-Maloche, Une nuit à la Tête de veau

Director of the theatre

Police Superintendant

Valet

Traveller

Wife

Comedy of language

Word warping

Aside

Monologue

Situation comedy

Misunderstanding

Une nuit à Châteauroux

A Night in Châteauroux

On an abandoned lot, Joe talks to his puppet. He cannot bring himself to abandon it and so concludes that he must kill it. He then hits it several times with a brick. At home, his mother is most evidently drunk. She indicates a house and forces him to set it on fire. Joe then meets with his friends and lets them know what he is about to do. At that moment, Stranger, a child none of the other children knows, arrives, but he is soon driven off the lot. Joe’s friends make a deal: one by one, as the dummy is lying on the ground, they drop a brick on it and promise to keep Joe’s secret. The latter sets the house on fire. When he learns that a young boy has died in the fire, he decides to run off to Peterborough with his friends. Before they leave, a man faints before them. The children take care of him and carry him on a stretcher. Once on the road, the world seems to have turned into a wasteland. Some children begin to disappear. Some do not want to continue on carrying the man, although Joe refuses to abandon him. Others are accused of having gone to the police to tell on them. But then the man kills a child with a brick during the night. After the man murders Joe’s remaining friends, the latter is alone. Stranger comes back as a ghost and tells Joe that he has forgiven him. The man from the stretcher is in fact Stranger’s father, and he still wants to kill the child who caused the fire. The play ends with a very short scene, in which Joe says he is “the last person in the world”.