Don Juan witnesses Donna Amarilles' declaration of love to Don Philippo and decides to get to the meeting place before his rival. Through the intervention of his servant Hans Wurst, he asks his father Don Alfaro for ten thousand thalers. The latter has two coins given to them, so that they can both buy ropes to hang themselves. Don Juan beats his father and robs him. He tries to abduct Donna Amarilles but he is caught by her father, Don Pedro, and kills him. The boat Don Juan and Hans Wurst flee on sinks but they both survive and find shelter with a hermit in the woods. Don Juan is disguised – he is wearing the hermit’s trousers – and kills Don Philippo who was chasing him. He then tries to rape a shepherdess and a princess he met in the woods. He kills the princess because she was fighting him. Don Juan and Hans Wurst finally reach the cemetery where Don Pedro’s equestrian statue stands, and they invite him over for dinner. The statue agrees, but in the end, Don Juan will go to it for a midnight feast in the cemetery. Don Pedro urges him to do penance, but he refuses and is damned. He then repents for his sins. An angel offers him forgiveness for his sins. He does not think he is worthy of it and is carried away by Furies from the Underworld. As for Hans Wurst, he drives out two devils who offered him a similar dinner.

Not specified

France

Strasbourg

Printed

Seducer

Unwelcome seducer

Assassination

Servant

Valet

Murder

Serial murder

Phantom

Revenant

Religion

Morality

Abduction

Kidnapping

Fish

Leviathan

Jonas

Forest

Cemetery

Didactic

German

Straßburger Don Juan-Puppenspiel

Don Alfaro

Don Juan

Don Pietro

Donna Marillis

Don Filippo

Sheperherdess

Hermit

Hanswurst

Angel

Ghost

Devil

Apparition

Flying machine

Final intervention of the devil

Disguise

Word for another

Dialogue between characters who do not see each other

Murder on stage

Bawdy equivocation

Light effects

Don Juan oder der Steinerne Gast

Don Juan or the Stone Guest

The governor of Barcelona, Don Pietro, banishes Don Juan on behalf of the king of Spain, and he refuses to let him marry his daughter – whom he offers to his rival Don Philippo. Jealous, Don Juan tries to abduct Donna Marillis just as Don Philippo is about to take her to a ball – since it is carnival time. However, he is caught by Don Pietro, kills him and then flees with his servant Hans Wurst. In the woods, they meet a hermit whom Don Juan kills in order to steal his trousers. Thus disguised, he also murders Don Philippo, who went after him. The two fugitives reach a first inn, then a second one, where Don Juan invites the statue of Don Pietro, which is standing not far. When Don Pietro’s ghost arrives, Don Juan and Hans Wurst are already eating the salad. The statue summons its murderer at midnight, in the cemetery, and hands out its hand to take him to Hell.

Germany

Augsburg

Aristocracy

Nobility

Spain

Carnival

Augsburger Don Juan-Spiel

Lipperl

Guard

Landlady

Statue

Letter

Inn scene

Comical regional accent

Apparition of the Devil

Don Juan und Don Pietro, oder das Steinerne-Todten-Gastmahl

Don Juan and Don Pietro, or the gruesome Feast of stone

The cook Pauline questions Guignol, a hussar, about the date of their wedding, as he has been courting her for a year. The colonel catches them and is displeased with Guignol. Guignol, in turn, reveals that he heard the colonel, while asleep, uttering vows of love to a certain Marie. Shortly afterwards, Amélie, the colonel's daughter, intervenes to ask why her piano teacher is absent.Later, the colonel receives a visit from a countess who has come to ask him why her son, Amélie's piano teacher, has been dismissed, and informs him that he has fallen ill and is in danger of dying. The colonel explains that he decided to separate them because of their young age, to prevent them from falling in love with each other. The countess replies that it is too late, then recounts an episode from the colonel's life: twenty-two years earlier, when he was known as Julien, he and a young girl named Marie were in love. But Marie's father forced her to marry a count. Realising that the Countess is none other than Marie, the Colonel decides to allow Amélie and Marie's son to marry. He leaves with them to go to the young man's bedside. Guignol, after several unsuccessful attempts, kills a cat that was threatening to eat a canary in its cage. Before leaving, the colonel tells him and Pauline that they can marry when he returns and that he will take care of the dowry: he wants everyone around him to be happy.

Glove-puppet

Josserand Louis (aka Josserand père)

Lyon

Josserand père Louis

Manuscript

Military

Meals

Love

Remembrance

Wedding

Comical

French

Le Colonel (The Colonel)

Colonel

Guignol

Countess

Daughter

Cook

Canari

Off-stage noise

Military exercise

Story

Scene of recognition

Plot twist

Blow-with-a-stick

Fight with an animal

Final dance

Julien et Marie

Julian and Mary

Don Juan tries to blindside his rival Don Philippo by abducting Donna Amarillis during the night. But he is caught by her father – the governor of Seville Don Pietro – whom he kills in a duel. Then he tries in vain to borrow money to an old cousin (or to his own father, whom he eventually murders in the second version). When he mentions selling his soul, Hans Wurst wants to help him out by making the devil appear thanks to a formula he learnt from a magician. However, Don Juan mocks the devil and Hans Wurst is swept into the air on a giant sausage – thankfully, he lands at the inn where his master was waiting for him. After a shipwreck, the two men reunite in a wood near Seville. There, they also meet a hermit and Don Juan forces him to give him his clothes. Don Philippo arrives and drives them out of the woods. Don Juan stabs him and leaves him for dead. Then he attempts another time to seduce a shepherdess and Donna Amarillis, who also went hunting. Don Philippo’s men are still after Don Juan and Hans Wurst, who manage to get to an inn near the church’s cemetery. Don Juan invites the statue of the governor Don Pietro for dinner, then agrees to follow his guest into the vault, where he dies in the pains of hell. As for Hans Wurst, he marries the manager of the inn.

Dresden

Gangster

Parricide

Don Juan, der vierfache Mörder, oder das Gastmahl um Mitternacht auf dem Kirchhofe

Der steinerne Gast

Pantolfius

Court usher

Hunter

Fury

Song

Metamorphosis

Lazzi

Monologue

Benjamin, a young man, asks his servant Crasmagne to leave with him, not as a servant but as a mentor and a friend. Crasmagne is unsure at first, but as he is promised a great sum of money, he accepts. Benjamin tells him to meet him at midnight in a park. In the park, a strongbox is hidden inside a detached house; it is filled with jewels that used to belong to Benjamin’s mother. Benjamin orders Crasmagne to fetch the strongbox. Faced with his master’s threats, the servant has no choice but to oblige. However, once in possession of the strongbox, Crasmagne hides it somewhere else and pretends not to have found it. Furious, Benjamin enters the detached house to retrieve it. Meanwhile, Crasmagne, who is standing outside, sees Monsieur Lésimond, Benjamin’s father. Remorseful, he tells him the whole truth. Shortly after, Benjamin comes out of the house with the strongbox in one hand and a gun in the other. His father curses him and leaves. Crasmagne and Benjamin go to the “Coq Plumé” (Plucked Rooster) hotel. Once there, they meet the hostess and Javotte, her servant. Benjamin leaves Casmagne without a meal, and goes to have fun. However, their vacation soon turns to chaos: after gambling, they are thrown out of the hotel almost naked and penniless. Famished and exhausted, they encounter a peasant who offers them a job: Crasmagne becomes a valet and Benjamin a pig-keeper. Crasmagne dines with the peasant, leaving Benjamin alone with his thoughts: an angel appears and suggests for him to go back to his father. Shortly after, Crasmagne comes back with some soup and learns of Benjamin’s decision to go back home. Once home, Benjamin is forgiven by his father.

String marionette

All audiences

Relationship between father and son

Thief

Inheritance

Jewel

Curse

Journey

Game of chance

Bankruptcy

Misery

Return

Forgiveness

Edifying

Father

Young man

Domestic servant

Peasant (man)

Knight

Host

Young woman

Fiancée

Aside

Sung scenes

Situation comedy

Off-stage voice

Apparition of an angel

Change of social status

L'Enfant prodigue

The Prodigal Child

The doorman Gnafron makes the cook Fifine believe that they have to cut a piece of the tail of their master’s cat: this way, Gnafron is hoping to enjoy the leftovers usually eaten by the cat. Guignol comes back from the cellar with a bottle of wine that he wants to share with Gnafron. In a clumsy movement, Fifine cuts the entire tail of the cat, who ends up on Guignol’s head. Picot, their master, discovers everything and is about to punish the three of them, but they manage to convince him that what they did was good.

Josserand Claude Louis François (aka Louis Josserand père)

Glutton

Cruelty to an animal

Wine

Cure

Gnafron

Address to the public

Naive character deceived

Hidden character

Final song

La Queue du chat

The Cat's Tail

As a conversation goes on between Cassandre and Pierrot (his servant), we find out that Arlequin wishes to marry Isabelle, Cassandre’s daughter. However, Cassandre wants her to marry someone else. Pierrot takes advantage of the conversation to talk about the rumours going around in town regarding a witch. Cassandre, sceptical, does not believe them. Later, Arlequin relates having met an elderly lady who turned out to be a witch. Shortly afterwards, the lady appears and promises Arlequin a magic power if he becomes her spouse. He refuses and runs away with Isabelle. Suddenly, l’Amour (Love), the Bon Génie (Good Genius), appears in front of Arlequin and Isabelle. He recommends that Arlequin searches for a hazel branch that will be their talisman. However, their plan is soon exposed: the whole Caverne du Sabbat (Sabbath Cave) quickly discovers Arlequin’s intentions. At the same time, Cassandre and Pierrot start looking for Isabelle and Arlequin. In the end, Arlequin manages to get the magical talisman and finds Isabelle. Pierrot and Cassandre, still looking for Isabelle, fall into the earth where an enchanted broom relentlessly chases them, but they escape it.
 Arlequin and Isabelle are still running away while Cassandre and Pierrot keep trying to catch them. However, it is almost midnight: the witch’s powers over Arlequin will soon disappear. At the last moment, the witch manages to capture the lovers, but the Génie appears and reminds her that the evil hour has come. Powerless, she disappears. The Génie promises to take Arlequin and Isabelle to a city full of happiness, and to bring Cassandre and Pierrot as well.

Young audiences

Paris

Father-daughter relationship

Sorcery

Talisman

Sword

Magic

Chasing

Happiness

Fantasy

Le Balai de la Sorcière, first page of the manuscript.

Cassandra

Arlecchino

Pierrot

Genie

Witch

Music

Magical disappearance

Prologue

Apparition of a genie

Initiatory quest

Blow

Apparition of demons

Chase

Visual pun

Demons dance

Object magically appearing

Le Balai de la Sorcière

The Witch's Broom

The rentier Galmar is waiting for his guests to arrive for a social evening. However, his two overly chatty servants, Guignol and Jeannot, threaten to ruin everything. To get rid of them, he gives them the evening off, under the pretext of thanking them for their excellent service. The two servants then begin to plan a feast. Shortly afterwards, Gnafron talks to Fanchette, a laundress. She tells him that last week, Guignol invited her to dinner. The meal was delicious and everything was going well until Guignol left the restaurant on the pretext of going to buy tobacco... and never returned. Gnafron then shares a story of his own: Guignol once sold him his watch! Meanwhile, Guignol and Jeannot return from a restaurant. Fanchette gives him a package to carry. Guignol hears a child crying. Together with Jeannot, he discovers that there is a baby inside the package. They decide to leave it at their master's door. Their master discovers it and takes it. To get rid of Guignol, Galmar offers him a hundred francs. Guignol then promises to pay back all his debts to Gnafron and Fanchette.

Vuillerme-Dunand Victor-Napoléon

Dinner

Feast

Infant

Child abandonment

Trap

Revenge

Reconciliation

Debt

La Blanchisseuse; L'Enfant abandonné ; Le Poupon abandonné ; Les Mésaventures de Fanchette

Rentier

Laundress

Comedy of language

La Parisienne

Parisian woman

A marquis with a suggestive name (the Marquis de Coquencu, literally Marquis of Rooster-in-ass) exposes his run of bad luck to the audience: him and the Marquise (Marchioness) cannot conceive a child. He uses different tricks, such as stimulating drugs or increasingly bizarre sexual games to finally have an heir. However, the Marquise’s moods change from one extreme to the other; she beats the Marquis, and feigns a feeling of faintness to have an affair with the Domestique (Servant). In the second act, two new characters hide in the bushes to defecate, leading to numerous scatological jokes, most notably when the Marquise, pregnant, assures that she enjoys the smell of excrement to the point of asking the Marquis to bring them back to their place and cook them. The play ends with another domestic quarrel.

Rolland Amédée

Toucher de la merde c’est signe d’argent

Signe d'argent

Sign of money