After singing and dancing, Pulcinella goes under Teresina’s balcony and calls to her. The building’s watchman arrives and asks Pulcinella what he is doing. The watchman, who is Teresina’s father, demands that Pulcinella speak with her. Teresina arrives and Pulcinella tells her that he wants to marry her. She agrees, on condition that he gets permission from her brother Nicola, who is very suspicious and jealous. Nicola rejects Pulcinella’s request as he doesn’t want his sister to marry such an ugly, unpleasant and weird man. The pair fight with sticks and Pulcinella kills Nicola. The story continues like any classic guarattelle show with other scenes where Pulcinella faces Death or is arrested and sentenced to hang.

Glove-puppet

Marotte

All audiences

Zampella Nunzio

Italy

Naples

Printed summary

Wedding prevented

Jealous brother

Engagement

Comical

Nunzio Zampella's puppet booth with his Pulcinella and his Teresina

Neapolitan

Pulcinella

Guardian

Father

Teresina

Brother

Thug

Song

Dance

Swazzle

Blow-with-a-stick

Syntactic parallelism

National language as a social marker

Il fidanzamento di Pulcinella

Pulcinella's Engagement

Before beginning the show, the puppeteer asks the audience to remain silent, “to listen, to understand, to whistle, to make pernacchi” (mocking sounds made with the mouth which Pulcinella will accept as though they were applauses). Pulcinella arrives on stage and dances with his fiancée Teresina. Then he goes under her balcony to sing a serenade. Teresina’s father arrives and asks Pulcinella for explanations. When he learns that Teresina is Pulcinella’s fiancée, the father goes fetch his daughter so that Pulcinella can speak to her. Pulcinella tells Teresina that he wants to marry her. She agrees on condition that he asks for her brother’s approval to marry her. Nicola – her brother – is very suspicious and jealous. Nicola refuses, as he does not wish for her sister to marry such an ugly, unpleasant and odd man. They both fight by striking each other with a stick and Pulcinella kills Nicola. He takes the dead man to the cemetery, into a coffin. Here, Death plays tricks on him. Then, He (Death) strikes Pulcinella with a stick and they both fight. But in the middle of the fight, a guappo (gangster) comes on, replaces Death and receives a stroke of Pulcinella’s cane. They begin to fight each other and Pulcinella kills him. He carries the dead on his shoulders and shouts like a ragman: “o sapunaar! Rat’m’ e vestit’ san’, v’ ronc’ e piatt’ scassat’!” (ragman! Give me all your nice clothes and I’ll give you broken dishes”). Pulcinella, now free, goes prepare the papers for his marriage and dances with Teresina.

Not specified

Printed

Burial

Ragman

Death

Dramatic

Address to the public

Lazzi

Nursery rhyme

Rhythmical parallelism

Il fidanzamento di Pulcinella e La Morte

Pulcinella's engagement, followed by the Death

One rainy day, Pulcinella is waiting for his friend and roommate Mastro Raffaele to come home with some money so he can eat. Unfortunately, Mastro Raffaele has lost the coal he was supposed to sell, but he possesses a valuable item that he could pawn. When Mastro Raffaele goes to look for this item, Pulcinelluccio, the son of Pulcinella, shows up. Pulcinella has given Pulcinelluccio the job of taking a letter to his uncle to ask for a loan. But the child makes a greasy mark on the letter and his uncle refuses to read it. Pulcinella, furious, chases his son away. Even the hope of withdrawing some money from Mastro Raffaele’s treasury vanishes when the latter returns with an old garment. At that moment, the Prince of Casadoro, a friend of Pucinella, shows up.
The Prince has asked Cavaliere Buonobono for the hand of his daughter, the first dancer at the Naples Opera. Buonobono will agree to the marriage on condition that he meets the Prince’s family. But the Prince’s father and uncle are on a trip and the young lover, impatient to get married, asks Pulcinella and Mastro Raffaele to impersonate them. Buonobono starts to have doubts about the identity of the two friends when they throw themselves on the meal they have been served, climb on the table and put the spaghetti in their pockets. His suspicions are confirmed when he discovers Pulcinella with his wife. It turns out that Pulcinella’s wife and son had been hired as servants at Cavaliere Buonbono’s house after Pulcinella ejected them from his own house.
Despite the deception being uncovered, the young Prince obtains Buonobono’s forgiveness and pays Pulcinella and Mastro Raffaele for their services.