Pantalone wants his daughter Rosaura to marry the Comte Rompipignatte, but she refuses. Pantalone asks for Brighella’s help. The latter suspects that Rosaura has a lover. This lover is Fasolino. Brighella lures him into a trap so that Pantalone can kill him. Rosaura learns about the murder and is shut away. After he receives his reward, Brighella carries Fasolino’s corpse out of town. A magician (Mago) summons Pluto and Proserpina in order to bring Fasolino back to life. The Devil carries his corpse into the Underworld. Fasolino’s corpse is burnt, and his ashes are placed inside a crocodile’s egg which is then left on a beach. The egg is warmed by Apollo’s sun and brooded on by a snake. Fasolino is born again and fed with the miraculous milk of an old woman. In barely ten minutes, he becomes adult again. The magician reveals what has happened to him and endows him with magical powers.
Brighella relates it all to Pantalone, who does not believe him. Fasolino appears first as a French Knight, then as a Spanish Knight. Thanks to the Shadows he summoned, he beats the two accomplices with a stick.
Pantalone and Brighella are overcome with fear and call Sandrone for help. But Sandrone is even more terrified than they are. Pantalone begs Rosaura to marry the Comte Rompipignatte so his torment can end. She finally yields and agrees. At the exact moment when she is about to exchange vows with the Comte, Fasolino uses his magical powers to kill Pantalone and the Comte. Then he asks Rosaura to marry him. She refuses because he has just killed her father. Fasolino brings Pantalone and the Comte back to life. The latter flees. Fasolino and Rosaura can finally get married.

Glove-puppet

Marotte

Not specified

Italy

Mantova

Typewriting

Magic

Love

Rivalry in love

Resurrection

Revenge

Death

Comical

Fantasy

Italian

Count

Pantaloon

Fagiolino

Brighella

Sandrone

Magician

Old woman

Nurse

Snake

Shadow

Devil

Apparition

Apparition of the Devil

Pyrotechnics

Murder on stage

Monologue

Aside

Song

Lazzi

Blow-with-a-stick

Disguised character (false identity)

Fasolino che muore e rinasce da uovo

Fasolino dies and comes back to life from an egg

Guignol – Vincent’s servant – has lost his wife Madelon, who ate a melon and died of food poisoning. Vincent plans on having him marry Louison – Gnafron’s daughter – so that his two servants are bound to one another. But Guignol deeply misses his wife, with whom he was always quarreling. He leaves his master’s house with the intention of going down to the Underworld to get her back. However, Gnafron finds Guignol sitting in a wine shop. After an enjoyable meal, they go back to their master. As the marriage settlement is being drafted, Louison is delighted to have finally found a husband. She pushes Guignol in front of her with a hairpin and promises him that she will be as mean as his first wife. But Guignol manages to escape before the contract is signed: Gnafron and Louison chase after him, while Vincent decides to sit at a table to eat with his neighbour Durand.
Guignol is exhausted while looking for Madelon. He falls asleep and sees the Génie of goodness, who presents him in his dream with an image of his wife accompanied by an imp. When he wakes up, Guignol summons the Génie, who warns him about the dangers that await. He also describes the five rivers of the Underworld. But Guignol is a proud man from Lyon: he knows how to swim, and he is not scared! Before Charon lets him on his rowboat for free (Guignol promises that with such prices he will be a most loyal client), he warns the hero that Madelon is Proserpine (Proserpina)’s companion, and Proserpine might not give her back to him. Guignol insists and repeats that he is not afraid of Cerbère (Cerberus). In fact, he means to coax its seven heads with bread and cheese. When he meets Pluton (Pluto), Guignol asks for his wife to be given back to him. The king of the Underworld remembers that the man appealing to him is protected by the Génie of goodness and thus summons his wife. Proserpine refuses to let Madelon go—she clings on to her as to her meanest companion. Then she yields, on condition that the wife consents to it. Madelon arrives, hits her husband and hurls insults at him. But Guignol provides good arguments: he has just come into an inheritance of sugar, coffee, eau de vie and absinthe… After thinking it over for a few minutes, Madelon agrees to follow him, on the flying dragon that Pluton lends Guignol to take them back up to the surface. Before they leave, the king of the Underworld promises to organise a feast for them. They are delighted about the idea, but the flames of the Underworld force them to flee before they can taste anything.

Vuillerme-Dunand Victor-Napoléon

Manuscript

Wedding

Descent into hell

Glutton

Boat trip

Burlesque

Mock-heroic

Farcical

La Descente de Guignol aux Enfers (cover page)

French

Notary

Rentier

Guignol

Domestic servant

Gnafron

Concierge

Young woman

Genie

Pluto

Proserpina

Charon

Popular speech

Dinner scene

Dream

Apparition of a genie

Domestic scene

Avista

Flying machine

La Descente de Guignol aux Enfers

Guignol's Trip to the Underworld

Tévibar kills Madelon, the Gendarme (Policeman), Polichinelle, Gnafron, Nicolas, Guignol and the Devil successively. He wants to destroy a tree which resists him. Matoum appears, revives everyone and kills Tévibar.

Albert-Birot Pierre

France

Paris

Printed

Murder

Racing car

Letter from Gaston Cony to Pierre Albert-Birot, with a sketch of the inflatable head for Matoum, 1921