Doctor Faust is disillusioned with academic disciplines. He learns black magic and makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles, promising him his soul if the latter accepts to serve him for twenty-four years. Faust’s new domestic servant, Casperle, also learns to summon demons, and engages the services of the devil Auerhahn. However, he refuses to sell his soul to him. During the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Parma, Faust makes the Ancient Testament appear before them and attempts to seduce the duchess. But he is pursued by her husband, the Inquisition and the outraged people, because Casperle has used his links with the devil to carry out miracles. Faust flees to Constantinople and Auerhahn brings Casperle to Mainz. The final act relates Faust’s damnation. He does penance, but he is doomed when Mephistopheles promises him the most beautiful woman in the world – Helen of Troy. Faust is carried off by demons, while Casperle, now a night watchman, takes his revenge on his wife at the end of the play, for the domestic violence she inflicted on him.

String marionette

Not specified

Simrock Karl

Germany

Bonn

Printed

Scholar

Necromancy

Magic

University

Monkey

Pluto

Crow

Mainz

Perlike

Drink

Pigtail

Dragon

Seduction

Inquisition

Italy

Couch

Vanity

Repentance

Nightwatchman

Lust

Eternal punishment

Spousal abuse

Tragic

Humorous

German

Monologue

Dilemma

Off-stage voice

Tragic irony

Misunderstanding

Comic equivocation

Aside

Lazzi

Song

Pact with the devil

Versified passages

Dream

Apparition

Pyrotechnics

Chase

Theatre within the theatre

Domestic scene

Dance

Doctor Johannes Faust

The play begins with an old shepherd looking after his flocks and talking briefly with his two sons. While the eldest borrows money that his family has accumulated by working, the youngest announces that he is going to leave, because he longs to live another kind of life. The father replies in the way of a humble man entrusting God with the future of both his wealth and of his youngest son. The next three tableaux show the sinful life of pleasures which the youngest brother enjoys in Thebes before famine and regrets convince him to come back home. The oldest son’s resentment, which the Gospel mentions, is left out of the play. The last tableau does not mention the tensions between the two brothers (which were only suggested at the beginning of the play), and only the father’s joy at being reunited with his son is shown.

Shadow theatre

France

Paris

Wealth

Debauchery

Mercy

Orientalism

Splendor

Lyrical

L'Enfant prodigue : flat articulated figure of the father (first tableau).

French

Scènes bibliques en 7 tableaux

Father

Board

Alternating narrative / dialogue

Pantomime

L'Enfant prodigue

The Prodigal Son

Iacchos (Iacchus) and Minos welcome the souls of the dead in the Underworld. Hadès has just abducted Perséphone, Iacchos’s daughter, and threatens to rape her. But Perséphone takes a solemn oath never to marry him if he forces her to. In the world of the living, peasants deplore their harvest, which Déméter’s anger has dried. Daiphantus, Tellis’s father, mourns his son, who has just died; he was about to marry Lysilla. Looking for her daughter Perséphone, Déméter learns that she was abducted by Hadès and decides to bring her back. Hadès appears; he has been transformed by love and repents. Moved by this change, Perséphone agrees to marry him, if Zeus lets her. Déméter hears her and reproaches her for her decision; because of this, Hadès gives up on his plan to marry Perséphone. Iacchos manages to pacify Déméter, who agrees to let Zeus decide. She comes back to the world of the living; the harvests have been miraculously saved and everyone is celebrating. Tellis comes back from the Underworld and announces that, from now on, the souls of the righteous—including his own—will go to an enchanting place. Zeus appears, surrounded by Justice and Pitié (Mercy), and announces his decision: Perséphone will stay with Déméter six months a year, and spend the other six in the kingdom of Hadès.

Anger

Promise

Death

Grief

Eros

Renunciation

Hell

Soul

Greek mythology

Zeus

Hades

Iacchus

Demeter

Persephone

Justice

Minos

Choir

Address to the public

Engulfment

Deus ex machina

Les Mystères d'Eleusis

The Eleusian Mysteries

Françoise, Babylas’s wife, complains that she is lonely, and that her husband is a drunk and a miser. She would like to see Isidore, his nephew, whom Babylas has sent away. Isidore arrives and says that he has found work as a painter of lobsters’ legs, but that he was turned out again. Françoise says that her husband beats her when he drinks. Right before Babylas goes down for dinner, Isidore hides under the table. During the meal Babylas wants to drink, but he hears several knocks from under the table, which rises. Scared, he believes that Isidore, who is covered by a tablecloth, is a devil. Isidore introduces himself as the ghost of Babylas’s late brother. He commands the latter to take his nephew back, to give him a good job, and to stop beating his wife; otherwise, his wine will turn into vinegar, and he will lose his money and be sent to prison. Babylas takes his bottle to hit the ghost. The tablecloth falls and Isodore hides. Babylas calls his wife and relates that he has seen his dead brother. Scared of being hanged, he admits that he has been neglectful and asks Françoise to go fetch Isidore. The latter arrives, and Babylas promises to stop drinking and beating his wife.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Lemercier de Neuville Louis

Couple

Avarice

Alcohol

Meals

Phantom

Threat

Farcical

Comical

Wife

Nephew

Hidden character

Dinner scene

Situation comedy

Apparition of a ghost

Change of voice

Le Fantôme

The Ghost

Wandering in the forest, Kasperl finds refuge with a hermit, who wants to lead him to repent. The Devil plants a giant radish in Kasperl's path, a magical object that assures its owner that all his wishes will come true. Kasperl immediately orders six litres of beer from the radish, a dish of Leberknödel (liver dumplings) and cabbage, and a sofa to sleep off his drunkenness. The Devil then returns to damn him in the form of a prostitute who wants to lie down beside Kasperl; but he pushes her away violently, shouting that he is drunk and needs to sleep in peace. Then the sky opens up and angelic choirs sing him praises: Kasperl has triumphed over the devil and he receives a halo. Not knowing what to do with it, he leaves it with the hermit, who, in exchange, leads him out of the forest.

Blümel Otto

Gaienhofen

Radish

Knödel

Beer

Temptation

Angel

Aureola

Hermann Hesse

Satirical

Burlesque

Hermit

Kasperl

Devil

Der Teufel in Gestalt eines buhlerischen Weibs

Prostitute

Voice

Apparition of the Devil

Thunderbolt

Apparition of an angel

Chorus

Dialect

Der Klausner

The hermit

Guignol is riddled with debts and can no longer provide for his wife and his daughter Madelon. To get him out of trouble, his friend Grinchitoux suggests that he become an “apache” – that is, a thief – like him. Madelon begs her boyfriend Pintrus to prevent it. Grinchitoux takes Guignol to the edge of the forest, where he is asked to cause accidents and rob the travellers. When Guignol refuses, Grinchitoux threatens him with a gun. Pintrus tries to take Guignol back home, but the latter drives him off. The Baron de Pierrafeu’s car crashes. His valet Trouillard (meaning “lily-livered”) flees, and the Baron is taken inside a cave. Grinchitoux tortures him, until the Baron reveals where his money is hidden and hands him the key to his castle. The Baron is then left for dead. While Grinchitoux fails to find the money, Guignol, who was keeping watch, repents. Pintrus arrives and urges Guignol to flee, as the police is on its way – led by the Baron, who is still alive. Grinchitoux kills the valet Trouillard, then the Baron. He is apprehended by the Gendarme (policeman). Guignol is safe and alive, and he has become a perfect husband. He agrees to Madelon and Pintrus’ marriage. Grinchitoux is sentenced to death. He makes an attempt at escaping, but Guignol catches him, and he is hanged. Guignol treats the policeman and the hangman to a drink.