Hanswurst is thrown out like trash from the stage of the Berlin theatre following the success of Voltaire’s tragedy Alzire. He is exiled to Salzbourg, where he lodges at Stoffel Knips’ house and seduces his host’s wife. Stoffel Knips catches them in the act and throws them out. Hanswurst’s distress is such that he tries to kill himself. But thunder strikes the branch on which he was hanging. Two Turks pass by the unconscious couple and take them aboard their felucca going to Turkey. During the trip, Madame Knips gives birth to two children – a boy and a girl – who grow extremely fast. In Turkey, Hanswurst is castrated to be made a eunuch in the Sultan’s seraglio. Madame Knips fell in the sea with her son during the trip, but she manages to swim to shore. She competes with her daughter for the Sultan’s favours; Hanswurst takes offence and makes a scene. He is banished by the Sultan as a result, and returns to Berlin, where he meets a prostitute. He recognizes one of the brothel’s clients as his own son, who also escaped drowning and became a pedant professor of philosophy. During a lecture he gives on the German almanac Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, published by Friedrich Christoph Nicolai, all the characters on stage die from atrocious diarrhoea.

Not specified

Schink Johann Friedrich

Germany

Berlin

Printed

Turkey

Sultan

Seraglio

Unfaithfulness

Prostitution

Suicide

Education

Literary criticism

Sturm und Drang

Genie

Adventure

Navigation

Human castration

Mutilation

Childbirth

Storm

Tempest

Scatology

Colic

Fart

Fornication

Triviality

Obscenity

Satirical

Anonymous illustration on the title page of Johann Friedrich Schink's collection Marionettentheater

German

Hanswurst

Madame Knips

Turk

Sailor

Daughter

Physician

Slave

Lady

Old woman

Prompter (theatre)

Scene of recognition

Bawdy equivocation

Splitting of the body

Prologue

Address to the public

Love story

Hanging scene

Play in verse

Epilogue

Unexpected turn of events

Brothel scene

Foul language register

Allusion to current literary events

Hanswurst von Salzburg mit dem hölzernen Gat

Hanswurst of Salzbourg with the wooden arse

Gnafron and Guignol find themselves in a forest, with nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. They decide to lie down under a tree. While they sleep, Péterman waits for his midnight rendezvous with Satan to sign a pact. An imp appears and tells him where to find the treasure Péterman is looking for. But there is one condition: the treasure can only be touched by someone who is unaware of its value. Péterman notices Guignol and Gnafron and invites them to his home. Some time later, he offers them a chance to go and “work in the United States”. They both accept without hesitation. During their journey, they have several adventures and end up being swallowed by two large fish, which spit them out near the entrance to the mermaids' cave. There, they meet a tench and a carp who want to marry the two strangers. Later, Guignol and Gnafron see the tench and the carp in the form of two young fairies. Péterman arrives in turn, but the fairies turn him into a monster because he wanted to sell his soul to the devil. Guignol and Gnafron then marry the fairies and become kings of the sea.

Glove-puppet

France

Lyon

Manuscript

Forest

Night

Sleep

Deal with the Devil

Treasure

Journey

Patriotism

Shipwreck

Encounter

Fairy

Wedding

Fantasy

Comical

French

Guignol

Gnafron

Wife

Innkeeper

Domestic servant

Monster

Fish

Page

Fisherman

Love

Merchant (woman)

Devil

Skeleton

Music

Demons dance

Thunderbolt

Monologue

Comedy of language

Chorus

Song

Aside

Blow-with-a-stick

Off-stage voice

Talking animal

Metamorphosis

Final wedding

Final song

Le Royaume des poissons

The Kingdom of Fish

Kasperl leaves for America on a boat, but is swallowed by a whale that spits him out on an island inhabited by cannibals. They salt him and smear him in whale fat. Attracted by the smell of fat, an eagle kidnaps Kasperl on the verge of being eaten and takes him back to Europe. Kasperl manages to escape and meets a horseman who takes him back to his family. The play ends as a prologue with an invitation to take a seat in front of the puppet theatre for the start of the main performance.

Shadow theatre

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Boat

Navy

America

Leviathan

Unknown land

Island

Sausage

Beer

Thirst

Hunger

Cannibalism

Savage

Kidnapping

Horse

Family

Kasperl

Baleine

Cannibal

Eagle

Horserider

Mrs Kasperl

Child

Sung scenes

Macaronism

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Kasperl bei den Menschenfressern

Kasperl among the anthropophagi

Blind Woman is lying on her bed, which is on top of her house, and narrating her unsuccessful love stories to Doctor Fell. Her tale lasts for a few days. It ends when the curtain falls and a Marionette comes to announce that the Theatre Director found a way to make her stop her storytelling by gifting her a ring which grants one wish. Blind Woman declares to Doctor Fell that she wants revenge on Jupiter. Thanks to the ring, she turns into a Sphinx to force Jupiter to surrender to her power by asking him riddles. She asks Doctor Fell to dress up as a nanny. Jupiter is sailing at sea, dressed as a ship’s captain. He receives a call from Mama Ops, his mother, who wishes him to meet a smart woman and lets him know that she revealed his location to Blind Woman. Jupiter is distraught and reaches the boat of Blind Boy, Cockatrice, and Columbus, who also decide to dress up to mislead Blind Woman. The latter awaits Jupiter on a dock, under the guise of a Sphinx. She is persuaded that he disguised himself as a woman to get away from her. Jupiter, as a captain, lands with Blind-Boy, Cockatrice, and Columbus, who cross-dress as the Three Graces. Blind Woman, who thinks Cockatrice to be Jupiter, asks him a riddle and snatches his veil. Cockatrice appears, wearing a nightgown and makeup as a lady. Blind Woman faints into Doctor Fell’s arms while the others take this opportunity to get back on the ship and flee. 
When she comes to her senses, she meets a Watchman and tries to trick him with a riddle as well, while the curtain falls.

String marionette

Craig Edward Gordon

Italy

Marina di Pisa

Latin Mythology

Mother

Seduction

Sphinx

Riddle

English

Blind

Puppet

Jupiter (Jove)

Cybele

Rhea

Blind Boy

Cockatrice

Basilic

Parrot

Columbus

Mayor

City councillor

Night watchman

Ellipsis

Lowering the curtain during action

Boat mounted on wheels

Talking on the phone

Disguised character (false identity)

Cross-dressing

Comic speech

Instrumental tune

Anachronism

Jupiter & the Sphinx

Jupiter et le Sphinx

On a beach, a knight in armour appears from afar. He is tiny. He moves closer and progressively gets bigger. When he is the closest, he lays on the sand, says a single word, “yes,” and dies.

Avignon

Knighthood

Death

or the Death of Aristocracy

Knight

Surprise effect

Death on stage

Pinocchio has grown old; he is 124 years old, and his nose has become as long as a mammoth's trunk. He spends his life watching television, until the blue-haired Fairy turns him into a piece of wood, as he was at the beginning of his story. Pinocchio has to start again and relive his journey: first he has to find his father Geppetto, to become a puppet again. Pinocchio sets out to find him in the ocean (Geppetto was last seen in the belly of a whale...), but in his quest, he meets only some very strange people: Lamereocéan, a man who waters a forest of noses, Captain Nocchio and Captain Pino, and others (Bout d’alu [Piece-of-aluminum], Bout de plastique [Piece-of-plastic],Cassette vidéo [Video-Cassette]...) who also claim to be called Pinocchio and who, unlike Bout de bois [Piece-of-wood], all manage to find their father. He keeps searching, but nobody can tell him where his father is. Moreover, every time he asks someone for help (each time unsuccessfully), he is forced to give a piece of his body: Bout de bois [Piece-of-wood] becomes smaller and smaller. In the end, Pinocchio doesn’t find his father, but he gets married to blue-haired Petite Télé [Little-Television].And together, they will continue searching...

Hanswurst von Salzburg mit dem hölzernen Gat

Le Royaume des poissons

Kasperl bei den Menschenfressern

Jupiter & the Sphinx

Yes

or the Death of Aristocracy

Bout de bois

Based on the tireless, timeless Pinocchio. Text for puppets.