A Marchande (female merchant), in love with an employee of the shop (the Courtaud (Shorty)), believes that he is interested in her daughter. A Servante (female servant) arouses the jealousy of a Laquais (male servant). A drunk Musicien (male Musician) tells a Suisse (Swiss man) that his wife is unfaithful to him. Polichinelle tries to seduce a Grisette (Shop girl), meets a Peintre (male painter) who wanted to paint his portrait, and then joins a Troupe de Buveurs (a Group of Drinkers): they dance a divertissement and sing a vaudeville at the end of the play.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

France

Paris

Printed

Love

Seduction

Unfaithfulness

Drunkenness

Wine

Cabaret

Valet

Comical

Satirical

First page of the manuscript of Polichinelle à la guinguette de Vaugirard.

French

Merchant (woman)

Shop employee

Maid

Swiss

Musician

Polichinelle

Grisette

Painter

Inn scene

Play with drawers

Comical foreign accent

Love story

Final song

Dancing entertainment

Conversation

Aria

Polichinelle à la guinguette de Vaugirard

Polichinelle at the guinguette of Vaugirard

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.

Strasbourg

Seducer

Unwelcome seducer

Assassination

Servant

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

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

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

The enchanter Merlin captured Marie – the young woman loved by the painter Arthur. To free her, Arthur and his valet Guignol go through many adventures. Merlin comes into Arthur’s workshop so that he draws his portrait. Guignol also tries to paint Merlin’s portrait, but he fights with the painting, which keeps transforming because of the enchanter’s spells. Arthur then visits Merlin thanks to a gift from Marie’s godmother – the Fée Merveilleuse (Marvellous Fairy): a talisman that makes him invisible. Only Marie can see him. She advises him to go to the Sorcière’s hut (the Witch’s hut), which he does with Guignol. At the Sorcière’s hut, they meet the madman Richepance – her assistant. The Sorcière welcomes Arthur while Guignol is mistreated for a long time by the furniture of the house which keeps playing with him. Arthur and Guignol can finally save Marie. But she is under a spell by Merlin that makes her look very old. Arthur still wishes to free and marry her, but Marie believes that it would be too great a sacrifice for him to marry an old woman. Merlin is jubilant at the sight of the torn couple. The Fée Merveilleuse is moved by Arthur’s devotion. She sets Marie free from the spell and restores her true appearance. The lovers can finally marry, and Merlin is defeated.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Saint-Étienne

Manuscript

Magic

Test

Portrait

Fantasy

La Case de la sorcière (cover page)

Guignol

Magician

Merlin

Fairy

Situation comedy

Word warping

Apparition of a wizard

Magic spell

Set that comes to life

Slaps

Change of age

Invisible force

La Case de la sorcière

The witch's Hut

Don Juan tries to abduct Admirelles – the daughter of the governor of Barcelona Don Pedro, whom he turned away to his rival Don Philippo’s advantage. He is caught by Don Pedro and kills him, then he kills his uncle to rob him of his wealth and leaves town using the sewers. Don Juan and Kasper hide in a wood, where Don Juan kills a hermit to steal his trousers. Thus disguised, he kills Don Philippo, who was chasing him. The statue of Don Pedro appears to him. Don Juan invites him over for dinner. After a shipwreck, Don Juan and Kasper reunite at a wedding, during which one seduces the bride Zerlinchen and the other seduces her friend Berta. Don Pedro comes for dinner and insists that Don Juan visit him in his vault. Don Juan goes back to Barcelona during the night, enters the tomb and is damned. Kasper fled without further ado.

String marionette

Apel Heinrich

Saxony

Thief

Debauchery

Licentiousness

Eternal punishment

Barcelona

Dramatic

Title page of Heinrich Apel's manuscript.

Kasperl

Zerlina

Peasant (man)

Stichomythia

Improvised scene

Running away

Love rivalry

Aside

In Palermo, outside an inn, several characters are waiting for the cuntista who, like every evening, will recount a new episode of the history of French paladins. When he arrives, Mastru Ramunnu relates the battle between Rinaldo and Gattamugliere, interrupting his story halfway through to collect money. Tistuzza comes on with Leporello, whom he met on the boat from Naples to Palermo. The cuntista and the other characters ask him to recount the adventures he had in Spain, while serving his master Don Giovanni – a count and a seducer. 
Don Giovanni killed the Commandeur (Commandant), the father of Donna Anna – the woman he wanted to seduce. Then the valet helped Don Giovanni get rid of Donna Elvira – his master’s previous conquest. While Leporello lists all the women his master conquered to Donna Elvira, the pupo Orlando kills several Saracens. Don Giovanni seduces Zerlina again and, during a masked ball, Leporello is nearly knocked unconscious in his master’s stead. Don Giovanni defies even the dead and invites the statue of the Commander for dinner. The statue arrives and leads Don Giovanni to Hell. Don Giovanni wants Leporello to go with him, because he hopes to find new women in Hell, but the valet rebels against his master in the end and goes to Palermo.