Polichinell enters singing, reveling in spring. He stops in a forest for a snack break. A starving dog comes, and he gives it a piece of bread. The dog undergoes a metamorphosis: it actually is Fairy Rosa (Fée Rosa), who was the prisoner of a spell and who is now free of it thanks to Polichinell’s generosity. She wants to reward him, but Polichinell refuses because he wants to stay poor. He meets Herr von Neid (Desire) and accepts to be his servant. The Devil, who wishes for Polichinell’s downfall, rejoices to have brought them together. Neid and his wife Bosheit (Wickedness) overwhelm him with work, but Polichinell manages to complete the work straight away. Bosheit entrusts Polichinell with her little daughter Unart (Bad habit), who will not stop crying, and who accidentally falls out of the window. Bosheit comes back, learns of Unart’s fall, and beats him with a stick. Polichinell fights back, knocks her out, and does the same to Neid. Fairy Rosa advises Polichinell, who has now become rich thanks to Herr von Neil’s assets, to carry on with his good behavior. In Polichinell’s new house, Habakuk, his servant, leaves him after stealing some of his wealth. Türk the dog bites Polichinell’s nose and Hector the horse kicks him before biting him. After many failed attempts, Polichinell manages to climb on Hector’s back, but the horse makes him fall and flees. Herr von Schadenfroh (The One who rejoices from the misfortune of others), who pretends to be Polichinell’s friend, bursts out of laughter after hearing his misadventures. They fight, and Herr von Shadenfroh is killed by Polichinell. Princess Miauline asks Polichinell to deliver her father, the King of Trapezunt, who is the prisoner of the Magician Gewalt (Violence). The Devil unsuccessfully warns Gewalt of Polichinell’s arrival: Gewalt is convinced that his constable Popanz (Straw) will defend him. Polichinell, thanks to an enchanted chime gifted by Fairy Rosa, makes the castle’s guards fall asleep and frees the King of Trapezunt. At the entrance of the palace, he meets Habakuk, who has become Gewalt’s servant and who refuses to let him in. Polichinell beats Habakuk, enchants Gewalt with the chime, fights, and kills him. Habakuk comes back and has Polichinell arrested and brought before Gewalt. After a mock-trial, Polichinell is sentenced to death by hanging. Polichinell is imprisoned and robbed of the talisman which the fairy had given him, and which served as a protection. Habakuk is in charge of Polichinell’s hanging, but Polichinell manages to hang him instead and then kills Popanz and his guards. Polichinell calls the Devil, fights with him, and kills him. The Fairy makes her appearance again and officiates Polichnell and Miauline’s wedding.

Young audiences

Germany

Printed

Wickedness

Reward

Murder

Wealth

Labour

Fantasy

Comical

German

Polichinelle

Fairy

King

Princess

Count

Minister

Policeman

Baby

Domestic servant

Genie

Horse

Devil

Guard

Monologue

Song

Aria

Versified passages

Dance

Metamorphosis

Apparition of the Devil

Blow-with-a-stick

Death on stage

Allegory

Hanging scene

Final wedding

Polichinell

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.

Glove-puppet

France

Paris

Attack

Cruelty

Cheekiness

Disobedience

Punishment

Farcical

French

Cabaret owner

Innkeeper

Police Superintendant

Constable

Executioner

Fight

Comedy of language

A wealthy baker chef asks his cousin the apothecary to help him poison Pierrot, who is constantly robbing and assaulting him. When this plan fails, he sends his dog after the thief, but Pierrot kills the dog. Knowing that Pierrot has always wanted to learn pastry-making, the baker pretends to take him on as an apprentice to get revenge. But Pierrot plays many tricks. The gendarme, who has come to arrest him, is swindled, then hanged in the villain's place. Pierrot kills the baker and the apothecary, as a worthy disciple of Polichinelle.

All audiences

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

Pastry

Theft

Money

Poison

Learning

Revenge

Criminal

Perseverance in Evil

Cruelty to an animal

Pierrot

Pastry chef

Apothecary

Headbutt

Fight with an animal

Lazzi

Back Stroke

Pierrot et le pâtissier

Pierrot and the baker

The king's daughter is to be married, but she will only marry a man who is both rich and intelligent. Known for his wit, Arlequin arrives at the palace, only to be beaten back with a stick by the Swiss guard at the entrance. Desperate, he confides his misadventure to a beggar, who suggests that he should become rich by setting up a business in beating people with sticks. Arlequin decides to do so. The customers, who come in great numbers, make his fortune. But Arlequin, increasingly revolted by their wickedness, ends up beating his customers with a stick. Rich enough and threatened with hanging by the Commissaire, he gives his business to Pierrot for free. Pierrot hangs the Commissaire, who has come to hang him, and comes to ask Arlequin for an explanation. Thanks to his wealth and wit, Arlequin is able to marry the princess and have Pierrot appointed as the new Commissaire.

Witty man

Trade

Discord

Scruples

Satirical

Arlecchino

Swiss

Beggar

Peasant (man)

Cassandre

Cassandra

Herald

Aside

Plot twist

Le Marchand de coups de bâton

Merchant of blows-with-a-stick

The action takes place in the backstage of a puppet theatre, where the puppets are hung. To his companions’ disbelief, the Doctor claims that he has read in a book that puppets are carried by strings manipulated by men. Colombina proposes to show that men are also held by a string – a string that binds their heart. All the puppets tell a story about the meanness or the sadness of human life. Colombina concludes that, perhaps, the string is invisible to those who are held by it, and that, just like men, puppets do not realise what ties them. Her companions do not believe her, and while they lay out of their belief that they are autonomous, the puppeteers remove them one by one from the room where they were kept and makes them go on stage – the show is about to begin.

Not specified

Italy

Turin

Thread

Love

Avarice

Vanity

Philosophy

Autonomy

Philosophical tale

Illustration by Edoardo Calandra, representing Eleonora Duse

Italian

Scena filosofico-morale per marionette

Puppeteer

Apparition of the puppeteer

Conversation

Prologue

Play in verse

Metatheatre

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Alternating narrative / dialogue

Argument

Speechless character

Il Filo

After a prologue in which Casper announces, among other things, that he is going to cut off the ears of children who are not well-behaved, the performance begins. Casper announces that, out of boredom, he wants to become a soldier. He shows his insubordination towards the non-commissioned officer who undertakes to train him by beating him with sticks. The non-commissioned officer sends him to the devil, who arrives: Casper kills him. He returns to his wife, announcing that he will be a general. She hits him with a broom, takes his stick back and they fight.

Sonneberg

Soldier

Army

Military

Silliness

Insubordination

Violence

Spousal abuse

General

Stick

Broom

Household

Couple

Ironic

Kasperl

Mrs Kasperl

Non-commissioned officer

Word for another

Stichomythia

Domestic scene

Comic equivocation

Brawl

Casper will Soldat werden

Casper wants to become a soldier

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.

Justice

Retribution

Gallows

Torture

Police

Jail

Judgment

Prosecution

Assassination

Embezzlement

Judge

Address to the public

Flying machine

Parodic trial

Foul language register

Murder on stage

Epilogue

Casper soll ins Gefängnis kommen

Casper must go to jail

The widow Schulzen is as happy about her daughter Rosa as she is worried about her son Peter. This wild child with tousled hair and long nails stopped going to school, has no respect for anything or anyone, and his persistent acts of mischief targeting the villagers could send him to prison. Rosa leaves the house and sets out to find the wizard Albaras, who appeared to her in a dream and promised to improve her brother’s behaviour. Her quest takes her to the court of King Arthur, whose son Tugendreich is old enough to marry and take charge of the kingdom, but wallows in the increasingly insolent jesting of his servant Kasper. His jokes go far enough that he is soon driven out of the kingdom as a bad subject. He wanders in the mountains where Albaras’s castle stands and, reformed, decides to become his servant. In the meantime, Peter became a drifter: he too crosses paths with Albaras’ servant, but he makes fun of his face because it is black, and spirits start possessing him. Rosa comes in, after a long journey from the king’s court. Albaras urges Peter to turn his life around, but he refuses stubbornly. As a punishment, the spirits dip Peter into a large inkwell, until he is completely black. As for Rosa, she came back to her mother’s house. Kasperl joins them with Peter, who is now clean and obedient. Prince Tugendreich then comes in and proposes to Rosa, who he saw at his father’s court. Albaras appears and ends the play.

Apel Heinrich

Saxony

Manuscript

Childhood

Wedding

Education

Disrespect

Respect

Vagrant

Good-for-nothing

Magic

Journey

Inkwell

Didactic

Der Strubbelpeter

Die Reise ins Zauberland

Queen

Prince

Marshal

Magician

Famulus

Widow

Schoolteacher

Laundress

Dream

Initiatory quest

Der Strubbelpeter im Tintenfass

Shock-headed Peter in the inkwell

A flesh-and-blood Pulcinella speaks to the audience about his secret passion for books and, in particular, for Shakespeare's Macbeth. While reading a book and manipulating chess pieces on a small table in front of a castelet, Pulcinella tells the story of Macbeth. At the end, convinced that it's impossible for such a wicked character to die, he casts a spell to keep Macbeth alive. Pulcinella enters in the puppet boots and "Mr. Punch Macbeth" appears on stage.
After hitting his wife Judy and making a sausage with the Baby, Mr Punch-Macbeth meets Hamlet, played by a Pierrot puppet. In an absurd dialogue between the two characters, their stories mingle and Hamlet ends up killing Mr Punch-Macbeth, shouting, « Essere o non essere, non è un problema! » (« To be or not to be isn’t a problem! »). Hamlet falls in love with Juliette, but his brother (a Sicilian pupo) and the puppeteer prevent the marriage of a glove puppet and a marionette. Juliette drinks a potion which makes her appear to be dead. Hamlet swallows a poison which turns him into a glove puppet representing Mobârak (the black valet of the Iranian puppet theater), in the role of Othello.
Othello mistakes Juliette for Desdemona and kills her before remembering that he himself is Romeo. In despair, he commits suicide. Iago enters, interpreted by a puppet with the head of the Neapolitan actor Totò, and proclaims himself king of the wicked. But he is immediately attacked and killed by a Polichinelle playing the part of Richard III. All the characters haunt the sleep of Polichinelle-Richard III: Mr Punch-Macbeth, Hamlet-Romeo, Othello, Iago. In the end, he is pursued by Death, but a horse with Pulcinella’s white hat and black half-mask comes to save him. At this moment, a marotte representing Shakespeare intervenes to bring the show to an end. Accompanied by the song Che cosa sono le nuvole? by Domenico Modugno and Pier Paolo Pasolini, taken from Pasolini's movie of the same name, the puppets make a final appearance on the puppet booth stage.