Pulcinella is in love with Colombina, but her brother – Coviello – opposes their marriage. The two men fight by striking each other with a stick then with two long swords. Colombina laments her brother’s death but keeps on loving Pulcinella. But Pulcinella also kills Capural Fasulo (Corporal Bean) – a soldier who asked him to explain his murder. He is then arrested by two policemen, sentenced to death and hanged.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Italy

Naples

Printed summary

Love

Murder

Death penalty

Patriarchy (sociology)

Brother

Comical

Dramatic

Le bagattelle, illustration from the article "I teatri. Gli spettacoli popolari - le bagattelle" published in 1853

Italian

Pulcinella

Colombine

Caporal

Constable

Song

Blow-with-a-stick

Sword fight

Hanging scene

Il fidanzamento di Pulcinella

Pulcinella's engagement

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.

String marionette

Not specified

Schmidt Leopold

Austria

Vienna

Printed

Father

Lover

Jealousy

Parricide

Money

Assassination

Tavern

Ghost

Phantom

Sausage

Devil

Woman

Excessive drinking

Nature

Vanity

Spirits

Tragic

Lyrical

German

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

Don Juan

Don Pietro

Anna

Guard

Hermit

Kasperl

Waitress

Monologue

Dance

Versified passages

Apparition

Final intervention of the devil

Role reversal

Inn scene

Word for another

Apparition of the Devil

Murder on stage

Comic Equivocation

Running away

Dialect as a social marker

xDon Juan der Wilde

Don Juan the Wild Man

Alcide Cervi was a farmer. In 1934 he moved with his family to Gattatico, near Reggio Emilia, on a piece of land called Campirossi ("red fields"), which nobody wanted because it was infertile. He lives there with his nine children: seven boys and two girls. With hard work, they manage to make these fields prosper, and the family can afford to buy a tractor. The Cervi family is known for their anti-fascist political positions. After July 1943, when the Americans landed and Mussolini was arrested, all seemed well. But in November of the same year, a hundred fascists besieged the Campirossi house. The seven brothers try to resist, but they are arrested and eventually executed. As a sign of support and respect, Alcide Cervi never ceased to receive gifts from all sides: a Bible from the Fiat factory workers in Turin, a globe from the agricultural cooperative workers in Santa Vittoria, skittles for his grandchildren from some friends of the boules club. Finally, the puppeteer himself, Maurizio Bercini, wants to give Alcide a gift: a puppet with his features, with which he can transform pain 'into serenity and play'.

Il fidanzamento di Pulcinella

xDon Juan der Wilde

Cide

I doni di papà Cervi