The shepherd Floritan (Floridan) is in love with the shepherdess Dorinda, but she tells him that she will only answer to his love if he brings her water from a magical cave. Instead of doing it himself, Floritan sends his servant Hans (Kasper) to fetch that water. As a reward, he assures Hans that he will give him a trousseau so that he can marry Dorinda’s servant, Gretel. The latter has to prepare a jar to fetch water, but she refuses to give it to Hans because she thinks he is unfaithful. In fact, Hans is planning on marrying Dorinda if his adventure is a success. Hans and Floritan manage to get to the cave, each independently, but Floritan is scared and runs away. Karikux, the magician, denies entry to the cave to Hans, a devil breaks his pot, then he is eventually chased away by shrews. Hans tells his story, exaggerating it, to Floritan. Floritan gives up on going back to the cave to get water. Instead, Dorinda challenges him to kill a monster that is eating her sheep and goats. Hans, to whom Floritan has again promised money for his wedding, kills the monster for his master. He demands that Dorinda marry him, but she does not care about who has killed the monster, because she is, in fact, in love with Floritan, and with him only. Therefore, Dorinda gets married to Floritan, and Hans to Gretel.

String marionette

All audiences

Germany

Leipzig

Typewriting

Monster

Magic

Test

Cave

Jealousy

Love

Fantasy

Comical

Pastoral

Theaterzettel von Louis Regel aus Donndorf, Roßla am Harz um 1880

German

Sheperherdess

Shepherd

Kasperl

Farmhand

Maid

Magician

Devil

Ghost

Love story

Apparition

Apparition of the Devil

Song

Final wedding

Der Gang zur Zauberhöhle

The path to the magical cave

Truitonne quarrels with her sister Florine – she is unhappy with her own name and reproaches her for being loved by everyone while she is despised. She would like to inflict pain on others and to be loved anyway. Their godfather Enchanteur Rotomago (Sorcerer Rotomago) announces that he would like them to marry: Truitonne with Prince Charmant (Prince Charming) and Florine with himself. Gilles, Prince Charmant’s servant , comes in and announces Prince Charmant’s arrival, but at first the characters mistake him for his master. When Charmant arrives, he immediately notices Florine, while Rotomago tries to draw attention to Truitonne. A Fée (fairy) steps in to warn him that Florine is the woman he must love. Rotomago bribes Gilles so that he helps him set up a trap. He will have Charmant believe that Florine has asked to see him. But taking advantage of the dark, they will make Truitonne come to the rendezvous instead. Thus, Truitonne poses as Florine and Charmant gives her a ring as a token of his love. As he believes that he is speaking to Florine, Charmant wishes out loud that a devil would carry her sister away, and his wish is fulfilled – a devil carries Florine away, but Charmant launches himself after her. Once at the cemetery, Charmant and Gilles meet an apparition of her that tells them that Florine is still alive. Rotomago asks Charmant to marry Truitonne, and when he refuses, he punishes him by changing him into a bird for seven years. Florine is made captive in a tower under the supervision of Gilles, who has them believe that Charmant died of sorrow and of an indigestion of rum babas. A blue bird (Oiseau bleu) enters her room, and Florine understands him to be Prince Charmant. He takes hold of a cane and hits Gilles. Rotomago, Truitonne and Gilles go after Oiseau bleu. The latter comes back to Florine and receives a letter brought by a Bourdon (bumblebee), in which he is told about an attack on his kingdom. Gilles glimpses Oiseau, shoots him with a gun then puts him in a magical coach that takes him to his own castle. There, he convinces the Seigneurs (lords) of his court to let him lead an army to battle. Rotomago appears and offers to give him back his human form on condition that he marries Truitonne. Charmant agrees in order to protect his subjects. As Charmant and Truitonne’s marriage is about to be celebrated, a Génie (Genie) appears with Florine. He transforms the Enchanteur into a turkey and convinces Gilles and Truitonne to marry, while Charmant will marry Florine.

Not specified

France

Paris

Manuscript

Enchantment

Treason

Hunting

Wedding

L'Oiseau bleu, first page of the manuscript.

French

Princess

Servant

Gille

Prince

Fairy

Genie

Lord

Misunderstanding

Disguise

Set that comes to life

Situation comedy

Off-stage voice

Graveyard scene

Dance

Metamorphosis

Flying machine

Talking animal

Entering with vehicle

Letter

Blow-with-a-stick

Gunshot

Apparition of a genius

Final song

L'Oiseau bleu

The blue Bird

The bachelor Gripandouille courted Polichinelle's wife, Colombine, who rejected him. Two jealous neighbours, Mrs Cassandra and Mrs Cababuche, slandered Columbine. To warn her of this, Gripandouile wrote her a letter in which he made an appointment with her. But this letter fell into the hands of the neighbours. Gripandouille found out about it and, wanting to take revenge, told Cassandra that his wife had an appointment with a lover. In the meantime, Mrs Cababuche told Polichinelle that Colombine had an appointment with her lover. Polichinelle went to the appointment but, mistaking Mr and Mrs Cassandra for Colombine and her lover, he beat them up. Then, realising his mistake, he hit Mrs Cababuche because she had lied to him. The two shrews then urged their husbands to kill Polichinelle, but he persuaded the two men to go and consult a sorcerer instead to find out the truth about their wives. The sorcerer revealed the wickedness of the two women. The Gendarme and the Commissioner, called in to administer justice, hanged the two women to the great satisfaction of the husbands.

Glove-puppet

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

Printed

Gossip

Vilification

Malice

Neighbour (Woman)

Unfaithfulness

Revenge of the husbands

Trap

Bad marriage

Shakespeare

Farcical

Satirical

Polichinelle

Police Superintendant

Colombine

Spectacular turn of events

Hanging scene

Les Voisines

The neighbours

Gnafron lives is Seville and is a very jealous old man who wants to marry his young ward Rosine without her consent. He takes many precautions so that no one can approach Rosine – save for her singing teacher, Don Basile, a friend of Gnafron. With the help of the barber Guignol, the count Almaviva manages to meet with Rosine. He confesses his love for her by pretending, first, to be a drunken soldier, then Don Basile’s student. A series of misunderstandings follows, so serious that, with the support of Guignol and of the notary, Rosine and Almaviva marry. Gnafron is enraged and Guignol, the mischievous barber, takes advantage of the opportunity to remind Gnafron that precautions are useless against love.

Lyon

Typed or electronic text with handwritten annotations

Ward

Smart

Barber

Verse

Ingenuous

Care

Cunning

Parodistic

Front cover of a typewritten copy made by Marcel Temporal, Institut International de la Marionnette.

Notary

Count

Music teacher

Gnafron

Hidden character

Unexpected turn of events

Le Barbier de Séville

The Barber of Seville

Donna Anna turns Don Juan away – she prefers her more virtuous brother. Don Juan asks his father for three hundred ducats to win her over. When Don Pedro refuses and threatens to throw him behind bars, he loses his temper and murders him. Don Juan flees the town with his servant Kasperl, whom he pretends is the new sergeant, to fool the guards, and they hide in the woods. There, they meet a hermit and Don Juan wants to borrow his clothes to disguise himself. But Kasperl tells the hermit what crimes his master Don Juan has committed, and Don Juan eliminates this troublesome witness. In the meantime, the devil appears to Kasperl, who promptly gets rid of him. As they arrive to an inn, Don Pedro’s ghost appears to them and Don Juan invites him to dinner. The ghost agrees to the invitation and is poorly received by Kasperl, who go as far as throwing a chair on him. Don Juan refuses to repent. The ghost invites him back, then holds out his hand to him to seal their deal. At this moment, devils come and carry him into the air. Kasperl takes all of his master’s money and celebrates.

Schmidt Leopold

Austria

Vienna

Father

Lover

Brother

Parricide

Money

Murder

Assassination

Tavern

Phantom

Sausage

Woman

Excessive drinking

Nature

Vanity

Spirits

Dramatic

Tragic

Lyrical

Das nächtliche Gericht, oder Der steinerne Gast, oder Junker Hans von Stein

Don Juan

Don Pietro

Anna

Guard

Hermit

Waitress

Monologue

Versified passages

Final intervention of the devil

Role reversal

Inn scene

Word for another

Murder on stage

Comic Equivocation

Running away

Dialect as a social marker

Don Juan der Wilde

Don Juan the Wild Man

The old Ablamore, father of seven daughters, of whom only one, Astolaine, is still alive, wants to make the young Greek slave Alladine his mistress. Alladine and Palomides, Astolaine's fiancé, fall in love with each other. While Astolaine resigns herself to giving Palomides her freedom, Ablamore sinks into jealousy. Alladine and Palomides, shackled and blindfolded, are locked in an underground cave. They manage to free themselves from their bonds and are delighted by the beauty of the cave and an underground lake. Astolaine and the six sisters of Palomides, who have come to rescue them, let in the light of day which reveals the true aspect of the cave. The two lovers become frightened and fall into the lake. After being pulled out of the water, they are placed in two separate chambers and, while talking without seeing each other, they both die.

Maeterlinck Maurice

Belgium

Ghent

Fiancé

Madness

Enclosure

Underground lake

Vision

Death

Light

Depreciation

Illness

Sister

Physician

Alladine et Palomides

Alladine and Palomides

Tired of always being surrounded by unwelcome suitors, Pimpernelle organises a fake game of blind man’s buff with Lydia. Blindfolded, Pimpernelle will have to guess who is the man kissing her: the first one to be recognised will be the lucky man. Worried about the unpredictable outcome of the game, Estragon, Pimpernelle’s lover, is immediately reassured: at Lydia’s signal, Pimpernelle will know when it is Estragon's turn to kiss her. It is arranged that the game will start the same evening in a garden. As planned, Estragon is recognised and their love is revealed. At nightfall, the statues of a nymph and of a faun come to life, express their mutual desire, and then lament the rising of the sun. At dawn, the nuptial ceremony begins and the procession sets forth.

Shadow theatre

Bernus Alexander von

Munich

Fool’s game

Gallantries

Lust

Garden

Secret

Rolf Erik von Hörschelmann, silhouettes and sets for the second scene of Estragon und Pimpernelle.

Chambermaid

Suitor

Faun

Statue

Nymph

Setup

Love duet

Statue coming to life

Night scene

Estragon und Pimpernelle

Estragon and Pimpernelle

The owner of a hotel is facing difficulties because she has been without servants for several days and one of her guests is very sick. Don Procopio and Don Enrico arrive at the hotel. Don Enrico would like to marry Don Procopio’s daughter. But Don Procopio has promised her to an American who is to arrive that very day. Pulcinella comes to the hotel and asks to be hired as a servant, but the old owner mistakes him for a doctor and Pulcinella finds himself forced to care for the sick man. Then, Marietta arrives, followed by Felice, who is courting her frantically. In order to get rid of Felice, Marietta tells him that she is married to a very jealous Spanish man. When Pulcinella arrives, Felice believes that he is Marietta’s husband and challenges him to a duel. While Felice has gone to fetch weapons for the duel, Don Enrico arrives and wants to kill Pulcinella as well, because he thinks that he is the American spouse of his beloved. At the end of the play, all the characters meet on stage and great confusion ensues.

Ferrajolo Francesco

Italy

Salerno

False doctor

Arranged marriage

Duel

Italian

ovvero Pulcinella creduto medico chirurgo, sposo americano e marito spagnolo

Old woman

Host

Sick person

Ha! Saverio!

Oh! Saverio! or Pulcinella mistaken for a doctor and a surgeon, an American spouse and a Spanish husband