Arden of Faversham relates the murder of Thomas Arden - the mayor of Faversham - orchestrated by his wife and her lover.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

Great Britain

Canterbury

Printed excerpts

Murder

Rewriting

Unfaithfulness

Tragic

English

Husband

Gentleman

Mayor

Wife

Tailor

Lover (man)

Traitor

Murderer

Punch

Innkeeper

Arden of Faversham

The Scorpioni Verdi and the Ragni Blu – two feuding families – make so much noise that the puppeteer herself wants to get rid of them. However, the Devil convinces her to grant him three days to make peace between the two families. But he cannot use his powers to do it. Instead, he will have to manage this by influencing someone else. The Devil meets Pulcinella and has him bring Areste Paganòs into the world. Areste then becomes the hero of the play. He elaborates a strategy to try and reconcile the feuding families: he will use the love between their children, Rosina Ragno and Rocco Scorpione. In this plot reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, in which Rocco and Rosina drink a poisonous mixture that should put them to sleep but instead accidentally kills them, Areste manages to fulfill his mission. The Devil brings the two lovers back to life and the joy they share at being reunited helps their families understand that they should not have fought. They all celebrate the young couple’s wedding.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Broggini Walter

Pau Donatella

Murru Antonio

Italy

Cagliari

Printed

Love

Rivalry

Enemy families

Enemy

Devil

Shakespeare

Pathetic

Comical

Didactic

Italian

Pulcinella

Child

Mother

Father

Carabiniere

Cardinal

Altar server

Cock, cockerel

Apparition of the Devil

Final intervention of the devil

Childbirth on stage

Accumulation of events

Fake death

Love story

Areste Paganòs e la farina del diavolo

Areste Paganòs and the devil's flour

The puppeteer apologises to the audience because he is not ready to perform Macbeth: instead, he will perform an unpublished comedy by Goldoni, The Jealous Emigrant (which is, in fact, a fake written on purpose by Brunello). But one of his glove puppets, Arlequin, disagrees and organises a rebellion, convincing the other puppets to perform Macbeth. The tragedy begins, but Arlequin, who has dared to step out of his role, must die like Macbeth. The same applies to his antagonist King Duncan, who - as we discover at the end - is no other than the puppeteer himself.

Bare hand

Actor and puppet

Adults

Brunello Gigio

Molnár Gyula (aka Giulio Molnár)

Mogliano Veneto

Rebellion

Self-consciousness of puppets

Adaptation

Fake unpublished

Ironic

Rodolfo

Colombina

Brighella

Lady Macbeth

Arlecchino

Macbeth

Pantaloon

Macduff

Balanzone

Generico

Witch

Messenger

Guardian

Sicaire

Monkey

Comical regional accent

Theatre within the theatre

Double characters

Address to the public

Rehearsal (play within a play)

Apparition of the puppeteer

Surprise effect

Captatio benevolentiae

Tragic irony

Tragic conflict

Parody of formal language

Avista

Macbeth all'improvviso

Improvised Macbeth

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.