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

The Knight Soleie has lost his horse and weapons. He believes he has landed on a desert island. Tchantchet shows him he has not. The Knight wants to find his father and, once he arrives at his family’s castle, asks his mother about his whereabouts. She tells him that his father has gone to war. The Knight believes he can see his wounded father – a fact which alarms his mother. But it is only a passing vision. Tchantchet brings a letter announcing the return of the father, the Bon Ténébreux. The latter arrives at the castle, reunites with his family and relates his achievements, especially his duel against Don Quixote, whom he has killed. The Knight Soleie also relates his fights, one of which ended with Malbrouke’s death. The Knight Mastique, one of Soleie’s cousins, introduces himself. He asks for the permission to bring Soleie with him, on a boat, to free the woman he loves. The Queen Rosemonde worries about this journey and has them promise to ring her or send a telegram if the boat sinks. Mastique and Soleie have landed on a new shore. The Géant Bras d’Acier (the Giant with the Steel Arm) appears suddenly and wants them to pay for the right of way. He wounds Soleie but the latter kills him. Mastique tends to Soleie. They both decide to leave the island and are flung in the air by an Enchanter, who brings them back home.

Single rod marionettes

Belgium

Liège

Knighthood

Giant

Comical

Epic

Parodistic

Walloon

Knight

King

Queen

Tchantchès

Magician

Monologue

Vision

Story

Fight

Appearance of a wizard

Flying character

Le Chevalier Soleie

The Knight Soleie

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

Boat

Fantasy

English

Blind

Puppet

Jupiter (Jove)

Cybele

Rhea

Blind Boy

Cockatrice

Basilic

Parrot

Columbus

Mayor

City councillor

Night watchman

Ellipsis

Lowering the curtain during action

Metamorphosis

Boat mounted on wheels

Talking on the phone

Off-stage voices

Disguised character (false identity)

Cross-dressing

Comic speech

Instrumental tune

Anachronism

Jupiter & the Sphinx

Jupiter et le Sphinx

Premier Meneur greets the audience in French. Napoleon passes, followed by his grognards (soldiers of Napoleon’s Old Guard). Then Deuxième Meneur sings a song in Walloon. Chevalier Soleil (Knight Sun) arrives, sad and without arms, on a desert island. He meets Adam – Tchantchet, who explains how to leave the island using a bridge, while also warning him that he may encounter the Diable (Devil) and Homme Sauvage (Wild Man). Pigs and horses cross the stage, then a dragon attacks the Knight, who kills it. The Knight meets the Devil then Homme Sauvage and kills them both. In her castle, Reine Rosemonde (Queen Rosemonde) complains about being lonely to Sénéchal – Tchantchet (Seneschal – Tchantchet). Her son Chevalier Soleil arrives, after being away for a long time, and asks where his father – Roi Ténébreux (Brooding King) – is. When he learns that he went to war two years ago and did not give news, Chevalier Soleil decides to go hunt for him, but a letter informs him of his father’s return. Roi Ténébreux then arrives on stage and relates his various feats, particularly how he killed Don Quixote. Chevalier Mastique, Roi Ténébreux’s nephew, arrives and asks for his help: Fier à Bras’ people have abducted Esclarmonde – the woman he loves. Chevalier Soleil asks his father for the permission to save his cousin. His father agrees. Fier à Bras tries to force Esclarmonde to marry him. Chevalier Soleil and Chevalier Mastique attack Fier à Bras and kill him, but Chevalier Soleil is wounded and dies. Angels carry him away in the sky.

Typewriting

French

Fiancée

Seneschal

Adam

Mephistopheles

Devil

Lucifer

Wild Man

Guard

Horse

Dragon

Napoleon

Apparition of the Devil

Aria

Death on stage

Le Chevalier Soleil

The Knight Soleil (Sun)

The wanderer Nabíh tells a child, Hassan, how the merchant Abdul found on a dead man’s body a bottle from which emerges a genie. This genie, in turn, tells the story of the dead man, a fallen king, father of Fatima, a princess who is said to have taken refuge among the desert dwellers because of the fratricidal war. The king's supporters are looking for Fatima to offer her the throne, and discover that she is Laïla, Hassan's mother. However, she renounces the throne to become the princess of the desert. Other stories are added to this main plot.

Shadow theatre

Rod puppet

Young audiences

Sirera Rodolf

Spain

Valencia

Tale

Vagrant

Theatre at school

East

Princess

Didactic

Catalan

Vagabond

Child

Merchant (man)

Commanding officer

Narrator

Theatre within the theatre

Appearance of a genius

Throws

Dance

La Princesa del desert

Princess of the Desert

The protagonist, Franz, is a young Viennese scientist who, during a hypnosis session conducted by Mesmer, learns that his cousin Angèlica, with whom he is in love, is in great danger. He decides to go to her rescue and, after many adventures, arrives in Budapest to find that she has just died. Convinced that she has been hypnotised by the alchemist Adam Le Fay, he keeps her body in ice, brings her back to his laboratory and tries various experiments to resurrect her. He fails and is accused of her murder by Napoleonic troops who have just entered Vienna. Sentenced to death, he is saved at the last moment by Le Fay who explains to him that if one of them dies, the other also perishes. They duel, Franz throws himself on Le Fay's sword, and both die at the same time. It is clear that they are two sides of the same personality, symbolising the conflict between rationalism and superstition.

Hanswurst von Salzburg mit dem hölzernen Gat

Le Chevalier Soleie

Jupiter & the Sphinx

Le Chevalier Soleil

La Princesa del desert

La mirada de l'alquimista

Obra per a titelles i actors

Green Planet

Aventura Eco-Galáctica