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

Germany

Munich

Printed

Boat

Navigation

Navy

America

Shipwreck

Fish

Leviathan

Unknown land

Island

Sausage

Beer

Thirst

Hunger

Cannibalism

Savage

Kidnapping

Horse

Family

Fantasy

Comical

German

Kasperl

Baleine

Cannibal

Eagle

Horserider

Madame Kasperl

Child

Monologue

Play in verse

Chorus

Sung scenes

Macaronism

Unexpected turn of events

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Kasperl bei den Menschenfressern

Kasperl among the anthropophagi

Casperl wants to immigrate to America, but is cast ashore on an African island populated by cannibals. There he meets the German naturalist Gerstlmaier, who at first mistakes him for a parrot and ends up hiring him as a servant. But the cannibals capture him while he is sleeping. He swears not to drink any more beer if he manages to escape, whereupon the god Neptune frees him and allows him to return to Europe on the back of a dolphin. Casperl is then abducted by a large bird which releases him in the market place of his hometown, where his arrival causes general panic. Casperl has sworn not to drink any more beer, so he goes to the tavern to drink several to celebrate his return home.

String marionette

Africa

Robinson

Natural sciences

Ornithology

Scholar

Exoticism

Small town

Parodistic

Ein culturhistorisches Drama in zwei Aufzügen

Night watchman

Drum

Neptune

Crocodile

Dolphin

Instrumental tune

Word for another

Song

Talking animal

Deus ex machina

Scene of recognition

Parody of formal language

Casperl unter den Wilden

Casperl in the wilderness

Marianne – the wife of a poor lumberjack – sends her starving children Hansel and Grethel in the woods, so that they pick some berries. But the children are captured by the cannibalistic naturalist Fleischmann, at the same time as the travelling tailor Kasperl Larifari, who believes he will find bed and board at his house. They are locked inside chicken coops and fattened. Kasperl is enraged. To calm him down, Fleischmann allows him outside the cage to drink some wine with him. He intends on eating him right after. But they both get drunk, while the professor’s maid, Katharine, helps the children escape and reports the cannibal to the police. Kasperl takes advantage of the general confusion to escape too. The professor chases him and then gives up. He wants to find the children but falls asleep in the end, exhausted. Kasperl finds him and sews the two legs of his pants together. Eventually, the court bailiff arrives with the children’s father, Peter. When they find Fleischmann, he is unable to move, and Peter kills him with an axe. The children come out of hiding and, at the end of the play, Kasperl declares that wickedness has been punished, virtue rewarded and that they all need to go to an inn now.

University

Philosophy

Tale

Poverty

Misery

Cage

Forest

Justice

Drunkard

Drunkenness

Cruelty

Perversity

Burlesque

Title page illustrated by the author in the original collection

Der Menschenfresser

Teacher

Night

Moon

Hidden character

Murder on stage

Off-stage voice

Animated natural element

Chase

Dialect as a social marker

Caricature

Confinement

Versified passages

Hansel und Grethel

Hansel and Gretel

Arlequin disembarks on an unknown land after a long boat journey. He puts on a coat made of animal skin as a precaution and with the hope of fooling animals. A wild cat sees him and walks towards him. Arlequin imitates his language and behaviour, going as far as climbing a tree. Meanwhile, Asdrubal and Pied-de-Biche (Crowbar) are hunting the wild cat to bring his head to the court. They look up and see two silhouettes perched in the tree. When Arlequin talks to them, they think that he is a talking animal. Intrigued, they watch him get down from the tree. Arlequin reveals his true identity and catches the hunter’s attention with the cheerful tale of his adventures. Asdrubal and Pied-de-Biche are charmed by his wit and decide to make him king, for it is very rare to find a man in the kingdom of the Ogres. Starving, Arlequin demands a meal. The whole court starts thinking about what dinner to make for him and where to find human flesh. Arlequin finds out that he is supposed to eat human meat and orders Pierrot to fetch a pot and a bean. However, the Ogres bring a pot with the intention of cooking their new king–Arlequin–in it. Two Parisians, Scaramouche and Tape-Dur, arrive at this moment: they recognise Arlequin and save him. Scaramouche declares that he and the king “will subscribe the Ogres to the thirty-two sous restaurants of the Palais-Royal” so that they definitely renounce human flesh.

des Essarts Emmanuel

France

Paris

Kingdoms

King

Meals

Restaurant

Return

Alfred des Essarts, illustration for Le Naufrage d'Arlequin

French

Arlecchino

Chambellan

Hunter

Pierrot

Cook

Kitchen boy

Young woman

Ogre

Ogress

Aside

Disguised character (false identity)

Off-stage noise

Stabbing

Le Naufrage d’Arlequin

Arlequin in a shipwreck

Anatole wants to save Fric, who was mistakenly sent into space. They visit the Moon, Venus, the planet of Dame Tartine (Lady Toast), and that of the Père Noël (Father Christmas). Their trip ends in the pot of the Peaux-Rouges (Redskins), but a clever idea from the Chat Tempête (Storm Cat) saves them.

Blin André

Montrouge

Typed or electronic text with handwritten annotations

Milky Way

Astronaut

Telescope

Star

Comet

Rescue

Helicopter

Red Indian

Christmas

Company Les P'tits Bonshommes d'André Blin (André Blin’s Little Men), Les Aventuriers du ciel, 1955.

Servant

Shepherd

Father Christmas

Père Fouettard

Fairy

Dwarf

Page

Dame Tartine

Snow White

Aladin

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Mermaid

Ballet

Pantomime

Warning signs

Les Aventuriers du ciel

The Adventurers of the sky

The play opens with a “Prologo in cielo” (prologue in the sky) during which the Teatro Vagante (an itinerant theatre) is brought down from the fly towers to the stage: the Teatro Vagante is at once a cave, a house, a cradle, a cart and a theatre. The actors have seen the theatre of the gods, which they have to try recreating now because “a mystery must be revealed”. The mystery is about a country where people are insatiable and keep wanting to eat fresh meat, even though resources are scarce. There are no cattle, an epidemic has broken out in the countryside and rubbish produced by their residents is piling up in the suburbs. This jungle of metal is thought to be the home of spirits called “rottamat”, which people believe to be responsible for the disappearance of several villagers. Everyone praises the butcher for his excellent meat, but he turns out to be an evil character who commits murders to supply meat for his shop. Just like the devil, he takes on numerous shapes: he is simultaneously the Butcher, the Father, the crazy man Matteo and the Emperor. Every morning, the Mother and the Father (the Butcher himself) wait for the butcher’s shop to open so they can buy the best meat, even when their son is in a hospital after having been attacked by the Father. The Mother flirts with the Butcher – who embodies her erotic ideal – until she becomes his victim. Nobody suspects the Butcher. Or maybe everybody keeps quiet so they can keep enjoying his excellent meat? The killings go on until all the villagers have eaten one another. Ultimately, only the Watchman understands that the Butcher is behind the murders, but even he is killed in the end. According to the actors of the Teatro Vagante, only hope remains: “even hell can be transformed – I hope”, one of the actors declares.

Actor and puppet

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Italy

Brescia

Consumer society

Meat

Pollution

Famine

Love

Death

Ecology

Evil

Tragic

Grotesque

Lyrical

Giuliano Scabia, Fantastica visione, stage direction by Alessandro Marinuzzi, 1993.

Italian

sopra il taglio e la vendita di carne con cenni alla questione degli attori, dell'arte, del teatro e del mercato generale degli oggetti nel disarmonico presente