<p>On the advice of his companion Bluteck, the cruel knight Barbe-Bleue (Blaubart) decides to remarry for the seventh time and kidnaps Bertha, the eldest daughter of the rich Geldsack. The next day, Barbe-Bleue leaves the castle and gives Bertha all the keys, including the one to the secret cabinet, which he nevertheless forbids her to enter. But Bertha disobeys him and discovers the decapitated bodies of his previous wives. To punish her for her curiosity, Barbe-Bleue sentences her to death. She is saved by her former suitor Hugo von Hohenfels, who, with the help of the servant Kasperl, enters the castle and kills Barbe-Bleue.</p>

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Printed

Cruelty

Bear

Hunting

Wedding

Romanticism

Knighthood

Young girl

Deafness

Curiosity

Kidnapping

Women's condition

Murder

Dramatic

Comical

Parodistic

German

Barbe-Bleue

Kasperl

Knight

Horseman

Monologue

Song

Disguise

Dance

Word for another

Talking at cross-purposes

Parody of formal language

Apparition of the Devil

Blaubart

Bluebeard

<p>An effusive poet looking for meaning in his life, goes into the forest. He has contradictory feelings and awaits a sign from a superior force. All of a sudden, an old woman apprears. She is almost deaf and their communication hilariously fails. The old woman leaves and the poet, still looking for a sign, announces several adventures often staged by the puppet theatre, such as Faust or Genoveva.</p>

Not specified

Hofmann, Edler von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August

Austria

Vienna

Poetry

Emotions

Forest

Bird

Animal

Nature

Incomprehension

Cuckoo

Kaspar Hauser

Genevieve of Brabant

Faust

Lyrical

Der Dichter am Kreuzweg als Vorspiel für ein Puppentheater

Poet

Old woman

Prologue

Comic equivocation

Address to the public

Metatheatre

Dialect

Vorspiel für ein Puppentheater

Prelude for a Puppet Show