The Étudiant (Student), waiting for the Grisette (Working girl), reads her letter over and over again. When she arrives, their reunion is passionate, and the couple immediately embraces. Their lovemaking, full of noises and exclamations, catches the attention of the neighbour, Monsieur Prudhomme. Intrigued, he enters the scene and starts giving advice. Annoyed by the intrusion, the Étudiant fiercely asks him to stop bothering them, and passionately goes back to his intimate moment with the Grisette.

Glove-puppet

Adults

Monnier Henry

France

Paris

Printed

Student

Young girl

Sexual intercourse

Eroticism

Neighbour (man)

Argument

Comical

Erotic

Félicien Rops, frontispiece for Le Théâtre érotique de la rue de la Santé (1864).

French

Young woman

Monsieur Prudhomme

Letter

Off-stage voice

Situation comedy

Comedy of language

Scene of copulation

La Grisette et l'Étudiant

The Working girl and the Student

Christine is in love with Heini, a law student, but her father has promised to give her in marriage to the apothecary, a character so conceited and ridiculous that she cannot tolerate him. Heini resolves to leave for Leipzig in order to finish law school and he makes Christine promise that she will resist the apothecary’s advances in the meantime. The apothecary, however, learns that an uncle has bequeathed his fortune to him before he passed away, provided that he would marry his niece: he easily forgets about Christine. But his baseless allegations about Christine offend her father, and, as he is furious with the apothecary, he calls Heini back in order to organise the wedding of the young lovers.

Not specified

Keller Therese

Switzerland

Typewriting

Embroidery

Woman

Forced marriage

Wedding

Arranged marriage

Marrying for money

Love

Impossible love

Bourgeoisie

Greek mythology

Silliness

Ignorance

Fatuity

Cloister

Phantom

Pharmacy

Inheritance

Vilification

Backbiting

German

Father

Apothecary

Song

Caricature

Misunderstanding

Apparition

Speechless character

Disguise

Hidden character

Monologue

Love story

Plot twist

Love rivalry

Ridiculous fight

Der Apotheker

The Apothecary

Mademoiselle (Miss) Félicité, a foreign doctoral student, pays a visit to Morched – a master puppeteer – to buy his puppets. Her request is categorically denied because, in Morched’s eyes, puppetry is ancestral work. However, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the authorities censored traditional Iranian culture and Morched is forbidden from practicing his trade. In spite of this prohibition, he decides to use his puppets one last time to tell the love story between Pahlévâne and Sarvé-Nâz Khânome, which will soon be made impossible because of the Mullahs, who support their friend Mobârak (“a mischievous servant”). Unable to destroy his puppets, Morched – just before he dies – decides to entrust them to Mademoiselle Félicité, who will be able to keep the memory of his work alive.

Puppeteer

Puppets

Power

Transmission

Religion

Current events

Daily life

Bans

Political context

Death

Epic

Dramatic

Frédéric de Manassein, cover art for Mémoires d'une marionnette.