Doctor Sassafras is pleased to have a client as hypochondriac as Steinreich. This rich and selfish man forbids his niece Marie from continuing to see his secretary Schreiber, whom he dismisses. Steinreich envisions a more beneficial match for his niece. Doctor Sassafras makes a deal with the devil to summon Death. Schreiber then attempts suicide, but a gravedigger saves him, as Death is detained in Sassafras’ enchanted chair. The Devil realises that his pact with Sassafras is detrimental to him and breaks their contract. Death comes fetch the doctor, who turns to God and hopes for His mercy. In the meantime, Steinreich converted: he has become charitable and, most importantly, no longer opposes Marie and Schreiber’s union.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Printed

Medicine

Knödel

Usurpation

Drink

Surgery

Prestige

Wealth

Champagne

Misery

Forced marriage

Hypochondria

Vanity

Cemetery

Faust

Bible

Suicide

Sentimentalism

Religion

Farcical

Satirical

Comical

Pathetic

Burlesque

Title page in the original edition of Pocci's comedies

German

oder Doctor, Tod und Teufel

Doctor

Kasperl

Secretary

Death

Devil

Peasant (man)

Domestic servant

Gravedigger

Apparition

Parody of formal language

Dialect as a social marker

Versified passages

Allegory

Light effects

Pact with the devil

Song

Monologue

Off-stage voice

Philosophical dialogue

Final wedding

Doctor Sassafras

Casperl inherits money from his neighbor Frau Bas, who recently died: it's a fortune. He passes a miserable evening, tormented by the idea that people are plotting to steal his money. He even cries out about a fire. The next day, Grethel buys the latest style of toilet, hires a cook… Casperl goes out to drink at the tavern with his friend, the hunter Tomerl. However, when he returns, the notary Stahlfeder is there to announce to the cleaners that Madame Casperl's purchases and the settling of debts with the tavern have exhausted the fortune of Frau Bas—there is nearly nothing left. Casperl throws out the notary and police chief Schnuffler, who came with a fine for nighttime disturbances. He then scarfs down a plate of Knödel that his cook prepared while declaring that he doesn't need money as long as he keeps his good spirits.

Burial

Coffee

Inheritance

Grief

Beer

Fear

Night

Paranoia

Conflagration

Fashion

Zwischenspiel in zwei Abteilungen

Mrs Kasperl

Thomerl

Hunter

Fireman

Notary

Police officer

Cook

Shopkeeper

Night watchman

Chorus

Sung scenes

Brawl

Final song

Dance

Current affairs

Die Erbschaft

L'Héritage

Wandering in the forest, Kasperl finds refuge with a hermit, who wants to lead him to repent. The Devil plants a giant radish in Kasperl's path, a magical object that assures its owner that all his wishes will come true. Kasperl immediately orders six litres of beer from the radish, a dish of Leberknödel (liver dumplings) and cabbage, and a sofa to sleep off his drunkenness. The Devil then returns to damn him in the form of a prostitute who wants to lie down beside Kasperl; but he pushes her away violently, shouting that he is drunk and needs to sleep in peace. Then the sky opens up and angelic choirs sing him praises: Kasperl has triumphed over the devil and he receives a halo. Not knowing what to do with it, he leaves it with the hermit, who, in exchange, leads him out of the forest.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Blümel Otto

Gaienhofen

Repentance

Renunciation

Radish

Seduction

Temptation

Couch

Angel

Aureola

Hermann Hesse

Hermit

Der Teufel in Gestalt eines buhlerischen Weibs

Prostitute

Voice

Apparition of the Devil

Thunderbolt

Apparition of an angel

Dialect

Der Klausner

The hermit

Saint Peter comes down to earth to grant three people of his choice the fulfillment of three wishes each. The first, a blacksmith, wishes that anyone who climbs into his pear tree to steal his pears can no longer come down without his permission, that people can only enter his house to disturb him through the keyhole, and that his bag fills with everything he wants to have in it. Peterle, the young boy who assists him at the forge, wishes to see his parents again in paradise, to have health, and to always be in a cheerful mood. Kasperl, in turn, goes to see Saint Peter and obtains that three wishes be granted to him, but asks to consult with his wife Gretl beforehand. However, they are unable to agree. Gretl finally blurts out that she would like sausages, which immediately appear on the table. Out of spite, Kasperl wishes that the sausages hang from his nose, but then he can't get them off, tries to shoot them off with a pistol, and accidentally kills his wife. A policeman arrives, whom he murders by suffocating him in the box where the policeman discovered Gretl's body. When he is about to throw the boxinto the water, the devil emerges, resurrects his wife, and beats him up. Now it is the blacksmith's time to die. Death, with a nail through his skull, comes to see him. The blacksmith asks him to pick a pear for him before following him. Death climbs into the tree and cannot come down until he has promised the blacksmith never to come back to see him again. However, he touches young Peterle, who had laughed at seeing him in such an awkward position, and he enters paradise. Then Death sends the devil to torment the blacksmith, but the latter, in the company of Kasperl, catches him in a bag as he passes through the keyhole and giveshim a severe beating. To avenge the devil, Death waits for Kasperl outside, but he manages to nail his skull to a tree and only releases him on the condition that he leaves him alone from now on too. After theFirst World War, however, neither the blacksmith nor Kasperl have any more taste for life. However, they are refused entry to both Heaven and Hell. The blacksmith then throws his bag over the wall of paradise and wishes to be there himself: he thus deceives Saint Peter. Kasperl has one last wish: he asks for theresurrection of the policeman, so as not to have his death on his conscience any longer. Entry to paradise is finally granted to him, but after a few years of purgatory: he will haveto return to his wife.

Doctor Sassafras

oder Doctor, Tod und Teufel

Die Erbschaft

Zwischenspiel in zwei Abteilungen

Der Klausner

Der Schmied von Jüterbock und sein Geselle Kasper

Nach einer alten Erzählung für das Kasperltheater bearbeitet