A Voyageur (Traveller) in a hurry is expected in a neighbouring town; he must cross the river, but the bridge is broken. Upset, he asks a young boy digging on the other side of the bridge if the water is deep. The answer of the “Petit Gas” (Little Guy) is not helpful, and he then mocks the bourgeois with a song. Then the two characters talk in cross-purposes; their dialogue is punctuated by the young rascal’s “tire lire laire” (rhyming nonsense in French), and culminates in the boy showing his behind. When he sees a Batelier (Boatman), the Voyageur hails him and asks to be taken to the other side of the river. The “Petit Gas” then throws stones at the boat, but the bourgeois manages to cross the river and canes the boy.

Shadow theatre

Not specified

France

Paris

Printed

Mischievousness

Punishment

Ducks

River

Bourgeoisie

Appointment in town

Comical

Endpaper of the collection illustrated with shadow figures.
Source: GUIGNOLLET. Le Théâtre des ombres chinoises, nouveau Séraphin des enfants, recueil de jolies pièces amusantes et faciles à monter, illustrées de gravures représentant les principales scènes. Paris, LB-Bornemann, [after 1885], p.2

French

Le Pont rompu

Talking at cross-purposes

Argument

Aria

Running gag

Le Pont cassé

The Broken Bridge

Polichinelle enters singing. He kills Pierrot who was trying to imitate him. He then kills the child of Mère Gigogne because it would not stop crying, and knocks out Mère Gigogne who was protesting. He kills doctor Bouillon-Pointu who came to offer him a remedy for his bloated stomach, then he kills the Commissaire (Superintendent) who came to arrest him. After another fight against two Gendarmes (Policemen), they both manage to get him under control. Imprisoned, Polichinelle is to be hanged, but he manages to take the place of the Bourreau (Executioner). In his last fight against the Diable (Devil), he manages to defeat him and throws him out of the theatre.

Glove-puppet

Young audiences

Cheekiness

Rivalry

Assassination

Infanticide

Serial murder

Farcical

Mathieu Gringoire, vignette for Polichinelle, 1838.

Polichinelle

Pierrot

Mother Gigogne

Baby

Physician

Police Superintendant

Constable

Executioner

Devil

Song

Fight

Blow-with-a-stick

Murder on stage

Hanging scene

Apparition of the Devil

Character thrown out of the scene

Polichinelle enters and, with a stick, hits the director of a tavern who came to greet him. They fight and Polichinelle kills him. La Femme du Cabaretier (the tavern-keeper’s wife) asks Polichinelle where her husband is. He beats her as well, and she takes her husband’s corpse to the tavern. Le Commissaire (Superintendent) comes to get Polichinelle to throw him in prison, but Polichinelle beats him and runs away. Le Gendarme (Constable) also wants to arrest him. Polichinelle beats him as well, but other Gendarmes arrive and manage to get hold of him. Polichinelle is imprisoned. Le Bourreau (Executioner) wants to hang him, but Polichinelle pretends that he cannot put his head in the slipknot. He asks the Bourreau to show him how to do it, and hangs him in his stead. Le Diable (Devil) comes to take Polichinelle to Hell. They both fight, but the Diable wins and takes Polichinelle off the stage with him.

Attack

Wickedness

Cruelty

Disobedience

Cabaret owner

Innkeeper

Death on stage

Comedy of language

A moneylender nicknamed “'a Sberressa” (the policewoman) insults an old man and another poor man who cannot repay their debts. Her partner Nirone helps her and smacks every defaulting debtor. The Sberressa even forces one of the debtors, Rosenella, to give her money she had saved on the side to pay for medicine for her dying mother. These last abuses of power prompt two debtors to ask for Nicolino Iossa’s help. Nicolina does not hesitate and helps the poor victims of the moneylender. As punishment, he smacks the Sberressa and Nirone and forces them to give Rosenella her money back.

Perna Ciro

Wear and tear

Abuse

Protection

Poverty

Violence

Battered woman

Cycle of performances

Realist

Dramatic

Neapolitan

Moneylander

Old man

Old woman

Thug

Debtor

Commoner (female)

Aside

Slaps

Echoing lines

Shouts of acclamation in several voices

'E sorde co 'nteresse

Money with interests

Starving, Gripandouille goes to the pork butcher to buy some black pudding. Because they’re out of it, he ruins the shop, beats the Charcutier (Pork butcher) to death and puts his corpse in his basket. Still starving, Gripandouille steals a black pudding from a Vieille Femme (Old Woman), then from an Élégant (Sophisticated Man) and finally from a Gendarme (Constable) before killing them all and hiding them in his basket. However, every stolen sausage is taken from him by a Chien (Dog) and then by the Diable (Devil). The Diable leaves, but not before bringing Gripandouille’s victims back to life: they beat their murderer to death to punish him for not resisting his desires.

All audiences

Hunger

Black pudding

Lust

Basket

Trade

Resurrection

Tantalus punishment

Frontispiece of Les Boudins de Gripandouille. Drawing: Duranty. Engraving: V. Cousin.

Pork butcher

Animal

Final intervention of the devil

Fall of a character

Brawl

Chase

Headbutt

Character dragged by their feet

Character spun in the air by another character

Character thrown in the air

Blow with an object

Strangulation

Destruction of set elements

Characterisation through onomatopoeia

Les Boudins de Gripandouille

Gripandouille's Black puddings

Catalysterium, a fake doctor, breaks into the Niflanguille's house and diagnoses the couple and their servant with a supposedly fatal disease. He asks them to stay in bed, eats their food and prescribes very expensive medicines (in fact water) to rob them. Mr. Niflanguille finds out about the scam and gets his money back. Cataclysterium is beaten by the Niflanguille and their servant and forced to take an oath to give up medicine forever.

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

False doctor

Medicine

Illness

Health

Medicines

Swindler

Money

Syringe

Satirical

Domestic servant

Lazzi

Les Drogues de Cataclysterium

Cataclysterium's Drugs

The rich Niflanguille goes to buy a bag of coal. He comes across the hungry Pierrot, who asks for his help in vain. The coalman cheats Niflanguille out of the weight of the bag. Pierrot hides in the bag and beats up the coalman, Niflanguille and the servant. Back home, Niflanguille looks for a sword to pierce the recalcitrant bag, but Pierrot gets it out in time and forces the servant to take his place. While Niflanguille pierces the bag and his servant with it, Pierrot runs away with a bag of money. A Gendarme wants to hang Niflanguille for murder, Pierrot for theft and the coalman for swindling. Pierrot kills the Gendarme and puts him in the sack, which he throws away, while Niflanguille flees through the window. Pierrot kills the coalman to avoid sharing the money, then orders wine which he pays for by beating the innkeeper with a stick. The Commissaire arrives with Niflanguille; he hangs Pierrot, but confiscates the money to punish the bad rich man.

Charcoal

Swindling

Deception

Contempt

Bad rich

Didactic

Coal merchant

Hidden character

Le Sac de charbon

The Bag of Coal

Fleeing his wife, Polichinelle steals a charlatan's cabriolet with Pierrot. First he wins the trust of the population with free advice, then he launches a subscription for a phantom financial company. When the shareholders demand their money, he sends them away with good words and blows, until the Public itself comes to threaten him directly. Mrs. Polichinelle offers to take care of the punishment. Terrified, Polichinelle flees into the forest. Abandoned by Pierrot, he walks to Hell. There, he tries to swindle Death and stands up to the Devil who, in desperation, goes looking for Mrs. Polichinelle. She brings her husband home firmly, with the approval of the audience.

Hell

Marriage hell

Forest

Public

Perseverance in Evil

Capitalism

Bossy woman

Escape

Ironic

Le Charlatan

Charlatan

Crook

Tenant

Lady

Peasant (man)

Cassandre

Cassandra

Shopkeeper

Colombine

Valet

Death

Intervention of the audience

Plot twist

Apparition of Death

L'Homme au cabriolet

the man with a cabriolet

Casper is accused by a farmer of stealing his hay and the cart and cow that went with it. He tries to bargain over the compensation and settles the matter with a stick. In court, he insults the judge and beats the policeman. The peasant asks for him to be hanged, but Casper finds out and hangs him instead. Then he beats the policeman again. The judge wants him tortured and executed, but Casper beats him to death.

Germany

Sonneberg

Justice

Theft

Retribution

Gallows

Torture

Police

Jail

Judgment

Prosecution

Embezzlement

Silliness

Insubordination

German

Kasperl

Judge

Policeman

Address to the public

Versified passages

Flying machine

Parodic trial

Stichomythia

Foul language register

Comic equivocation

Epilogue

Casper soll ins Gefängnis kommen

Casper must go to jail

Mr. Fish pays a visit to Mrs. Bones and starts a conversation with her. Mrs. Bones uses different excuses to get angry and threaten to kill Mr. Fish. She then asks him to get divorced from his wife, while offering to get a divorce from her husband for them to marry. Mr. Fish, frightened, begs Teddy, his puppeteer, to save him from this situation. The latter pulls at the puppet’s strings to take him back to the fly loft. Then a hand comes down (the puppeteer’s) and threatens Mrs. Bones, while her strings are cut one by one. Cockatrice, Mrs. Bones’ “old friend,” wants to seduce her and take her with him, but Mrs. Bones can no longer move. Cockatrice thus sends for a girl in the audience to take the puppet, which is now merely a doll. The play ends with the appearance of the face of the Governor (the puppeteer) and with a grand finale for Mrs. Bones, who ascends to heaven, to the surprise amazement of a myriad of glove puppets watching her.