The fisherman's daughter Lisi and the young bird-catcher Wastl live by a lake in Germany. They offer hospitality to the painter Wilhelm, who has just returned from Italy. The short play ends with a song to nature and joy.

Not specified

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Manuscript

Fishing

Bird

Nature

Painting

Picturesque

Countryside

Birdcatcher

Bucolic

Forest

Wood

Happiness

Painter

Music

Italy

Journey

Hospitality

Childhood

Lyrical

German

Allegory

Monologue

Metatheatre

Song

Final song

Am See

By the lake

The widow Werner lives with her young son Ludwig in misery: a sad Christmas is coming. To surprise her son, Mrs Werner goes out to buy a small pine tree and some apples. In her absence, Ludwig writes a letter to baby Jesus, asking for an illustrated Bible: he throws the letter out of the window addressing it to the angels. On Christmas morning, a package is delivered containing the Bible he asked for. The donor is Friedrich Walter, an old friend of the deceased Karl Werner: he has just returned from a long trip to the Orient and is inquiring at the police station about the widow's address, when some officers tell him of the amusing discovery of Ludwig's letter. Friedrich Walter takes the widow and child under his protection.

String marionette

Young audiences

Printed

Poverty

Reading

Education

Hanswurst

Kasperl

Bible

Crib

Piety

Sentimentalism

Social realism

Christmas

Realist

Pathetic

Letter

Transforming scenery

Chorus

Deus ex machina

Der Weihnachts-Brief

Christmas Letter

Jeannot, a child who has a third eye, is adopted by Clémence and Prudent. They take Jeannot to see a doctor who wants to perform surgery on him. Jeannot rebels and a temporary solution is found: his third eye will be blindfolded so that the child can get used to having two eyes and prepare for the future. For a week, Jeannot lives with his eye covered but becomes sick with melancholy. Clémence decides that he will go to school without covering his eye. On the first day, the other children are either surprised or scared, then they are impressed by Jeannot’s “supersonic” eye. Soon enough, they no longer pay attention to that eye, but they pay attention, rather, to what it makes him see. Jeannot contradicts the schoolteacher regarding Romeo and Juliet, and he is chased out of the classroom. Mariette, a classmate, tells him that she shares his point of view. The head of school tells Clémence and Prudent that their son has been expelled for a week. Mariette pays a visit to Jeannot who is stuck in the house, and she reveals to him that she also has a third eye. They dance together until they are interrupted by the arrival of Mariette’s parents. When Jeannot goes back to school, a student mocks him. Mariette defends Jeannot by showing her third eye to everybody in the classroom, which terrifies the schoolteacher, who thinks there is an epidemic. Some parents take legal action and sue for voluntarily contaminating other children. The judge, who is understanding, thinks that Jeannot can see the colour of the human soul thanks to his third eye. Jeannot asks to become an emancipated minor in order to leave on his own, without his parents. His request having been accepted, Jeannot leaves, although it is difficult to accept for Clémence and Mariette. The narrator reveals herself to be Mariette, who has grown old: it is the day of her birthday and she wishes to see Jeannot again more than anything.

France

Orphan

Convent

Adoption

Surgery

Vision

School

Discrimination

Expulsion

Judgment

Separation

Birthday

Shakespeare

Dramatic

Satirical

Fantasy

French

Narrator

Child

Father

Mother

Doctor

Teacher

Director

Crowd

Judge

Avista

Light effects

Dance

Classroom scene

Night scene

Court scene

Jeannot trois yeux

Three-Eyed Jeannot

A theatre director has hired Polichinelle for the evening, but Polichinelle is late for the show. When he comes on, he is haunted by the ghost of his conscience, that chastises him for his very instinctive personality. Following the director’s questions concerning what is tormenting him, Polichinelle uses glove-puppets to play episodes from his childhood, when he was often punished for his misdemeanour. Once the flashback is over, Polichinelle wants to improvise some jokes, but the director forbids him from tackling political themes. As he does not know what kind of show to put on, Polichinelle keeps talking about his past – how his parents had him then abandoned him for lack of money, and his first heartbreaks. Polichinelle and the director argue. The latter summons Illness and Death, who want to take Polichinelle with them. While screaming that he is an immortal character, Polichinelle manages to drive them out – thus saving theatre and also making up with the director.

Nordmann Jean-Gabriel

Meung-sur-Loire

Remembrance

Death

Illness

Unrequited love

Love

Parents

Argument

Grotesque

Comical

Fable théâtrale pour comédiens et marionnettes

Polichinelle

Nurse

Schoolteacher

Devil

Scene fragment

Address to the public

Blow-with-a-stick

Allusion to current political events

Seduction scene

Analepsis (Flash-back)

Fight

Sous le masque tu es mortel pauvre orphelin !

Behind the mask you are mortal poor orphan!

In a country at war, a child soldier has managed to escape a military camp. She now goes to school. As she speaks with her teacher, Ismé’s past comes back to her in flashback. We learn about her past as a girl soldier, as well as the past of the children she fought with – more particularly that of Menka, who, after having been raped and having lost her first child, asked Ismé to take care of her second child.

Giant marionette

Saint-Christoly de Blaye

Blaye

Child soldier

Rape

Religion

Motherhood

Birth

Teenager

Baby

Compartmented stage

Off-stage voices

Childbirth on stage

Ismé, l'enfant-soldat

Ismé, the child-soldier

The man with the wrought-iron heart – now an old man – relates his story. He reminisces about his childhood, and thinks about the first time he played the piano – a moment which coincided with the death of his younger brother. It is now him who plays the piano for a child.

Belgium

Metal

Disappearing

Piano

Heart

The man with the wrought-iron heart

Speech-narrative

Change of size on sight

Change of age

Character hidden inside another

L'Homme au cœur en fer forgé

The man with the wrought-iron heart

Bouffefeu (Eatfire), the director of the theatre, announces that he is going to tell a rewritten version of Pinocchio’s adventures. Just as he is about to start carving a piece of wood, Père (Father) sees it morph into a puppet. He adopts it as his own child and, even though he is poor, gives it all he can. Instead of going to school, Pinocchio, accompanied by Grillon (Cricket), sells everything he owns to enter the funfair. Bouffefeu, the owner of the funfair theatre, takes pity on Pinocchio’s poverty and gives him five coins. They decide to head home and meet Chat (Cat) and Renard (Fox) on the way. Pinocchio shows them his money. Then, Chat and Renard dress up try to steal his money but Pinocchio and Grillon manage to escape and hide from them. On the advice of Fée Bleue (Blue Fairy), the allegory of Pinocchio’s mother, they hit the road. They encounter Chat and Renard again, who make Pinocchio believe that if he if he sows his money, a tree will grow out of it and will produce new coins. Pinocchio is gullible; he believes them and complies.
At another funfair, the Bonimenteur (Barker) changes him into a donkey, but he manages to escape. In the stomach of a sea monster, Pinocchio and Grillon find Père again. The three of them manage to get back onto dry land. Back to the Field of Miracles where Pinocchio buried his money, Pinocchio discovers trees laden with gold coins. He meets the Fée Bleue who lets him decide between becoming a real little boy or remaining a puppet. He chooses to remain a puppet so that he can always be a child in his father’s eyes.

Actor and puppet

Jumping Jack

Brive-La-Gaillarde

Rewriting

Quest

Friendship

Disobedience

Dream

Cruelty

Family

Wealth

Deception

Learning

Director of the theatre

Pinocchio

Talking Cricket

Blue Fairy

Raven

Barker

Announcer

Personification

Initiatory quest

Mise-en-abyme

Metamorphosis

Building a puppet on sight

Lengthening of a character

Talking animal

Chase

Prologue

Ceci n'est pas un nez

This Is Not a Nose

Abu is an imaginary place in the desert, inhabited by Mica – a young girl who enjoys counting the birds that fly above her – and her grandfather, who teaches her a secret way to fly without wings. According to his magic formula, one only needs to listen to the wind while exhaling deeply. A giant slide represents a dune. Behind it is a springboard which Mica and her grandfather – played by actors – use to jump and try to take flight. Several birds and a dragonfly try too, but without success. Then, the young girl – represented by a puppet – tries again. She is swept by the wind: she jumps, sways, walks clumsily and then falls over. A dragonfly slides down a ski slope, blowing air to maintain balance while also protecting itself from the cold. Several contraptions, flying machines and planes arrive on stage; they are manipulated by actors. At the end, a mysterious character named Flyer declares that he must leave, because he may otherwise become part of the desert.