Guignol – a ragman – is upset as he finds nothing to resell. He comes across Gnafron, who is sleeping. Guignol is engaged to Louison – Gnafron’s daughter – but the three of them are lazy and penniless. They find a poster of the aeronaut Baloffet, who is about to take off for the Moon in a balloon and offers two thousand francs to whoever will go with him. Guignol volunteers and shares half of the advance on the reward with Gnafron. Louison is staying with her father and reproaches him for spending all the money he makes repairing shoes on wine. But the Bailli (bailiff) comes in and offers Gnafron twenty francs so that he shares with him the letters Guignol will send from the Moon. The balloon flies over a few forests then lands in the North Pole, before finally taking off for the Moon. Louison reads out Guignol’s first letter to the Bailli: Guignol is still on his way. On the Moon, the King and Queen attend a party where “mechanised dancers” are performing. Some guards bring in Guignol, who has just arrived. The King and Queen show him their wings. They are surprised to see that Guignol does not have any. They first consider putting him in a cage, but instead they ask him questions about life on Earth and how he travelled to the Moon. Guignol offers to establish business relationships between the Moon and the Earth. The King’s subjects revolt. Having been impressed by the gun Guignol carries, the King appoints him general-in-chief of his army. Guignol sends Baloffet back to Earth so that he brings Louison and Gnafron, who were already packing their things. Back on the Moon, Guignol has defeated the rebels, and he celebrates his victory by drinking wine. The Queen privately confesses her love to him. Gnafron and Louison have arrived on the Moon and come celebrate Guignol’s victory too. Gnafron is appointed as the King’s sommelier and the plays ends with a grand finale and a last verse.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Josserand Claude Louis François (aka Louis Josserand père)

France

Lyon

Manuscript

Moon

Gas balloon

Meals

Wine

Celebrity

Misery

Revolt

Seduction

Scatology

Comical

Fantasy

French

Guignol dans la Lune

Guignol

Gnafron

Inhabitants on the moon

Bailli

Prime Minister

Aeronaut

Queen

Guard

Monologue

Teichoscopy

Song

Off-stage voice

Letter

Ellipsis

Aside

Apotheosis

Versified passages

Final song

Flying machine

Word warping

Le Voyage de Guignol dans la Lune

Guignol travels to the Moon

Kasperl is the knight Kuno’s squire. While hunting in the woods, he meets a hermit who offers him food and drink. As he is in a good mood, Kasperl slaps him in the face. The situation degenerates and he ends up skewering the hermit on his halberd. Kuno arrives, unaware of this. The magician Murischuripixtimixtistopheles sets out to capture them both and cook them in his wizard's kitchen. He transforms into a monster and wants to eat Kasperl: Kasperl feeds him the hermit's corpse, but this is not enough to satisfy him. Kasperl then hits him with his halberd until he collapses, dead. The knight Kuno finally arrives, but the magician suddenly reappears: the monster was only an illusion. Kuno runs away. Kasperl does not have time to follow him. The magician takes him into his service and gives him a cauldron to watch over, threatening to cook him in the cauldron if he does his job badly. But instead, Kasperl pushes him into the cauldron, which explodes: Kasperl flies to the moon and returns to Earth after visiting all the taverns there...

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Printed

Middle Ages

Knighthood

Troubadour

Squire

Dragon

Wood

Forest

Gluttony

Magic

Sorcery

Heroism

Assassination

Animals, Mythical

Tavern

Farcical

Parodistic

German

Ein Ritterstück aus dem finstern Mittelalter

Hermit

Kasperl

Knight

Der Zauberer Murischuripixtimixtistopheles

Magician

Devil

Sung scenes

Address to the public

Metatheatre

Word for another

Parody of formal language

Blow-with-a-stick

Murder on stage

Apparition of the Devil

Pyrotechnics

Metamorphosis

Magic act

Stichomythia

Macaronism

Kasperls Heldentaten

The heroic deeds of Kasperl

Having graduated from the University of Heidelberg, Anselme has become an assistant at old Hans’s toyshop, in Nuremberg, in order to grow closer to his employer’s daughter, Wilhelmine, whom he secretly loves. The son of the adviser Paykul also courts her. The Jew Mardochée sells them dolls which look like little women sleeping, and he says that they come from the Moon. In the evening, when Anselme is alone, Queen Lunaria and her companions wake up and tell him that they have come from the Moon. Anselme protects them from the monster Angramanyou, genie of underground fire, by delivering toys to him instead. Spiders threaten the women of the Moon, then different objects (household utensils, balloons) become animated, introduce themselves one after the other and dance. Anselme confesses his love to Lunaria, who grows and reveals herself to be Wilhelmine, the two women having been mistaken for one another in a dream. With Hans’s permission, Anselme and Wilhelmine decide to get married.

All audiences

Maurice Sand (Maurice Sand)

Nohant

Dream

Impossible love

Doll

Genie

Sleep

Shyness

Fantastic

Frontispiece for the volume containing the play Jouets et Mystères

Merchant (man)

Baroness

Young girl

Maid

Spider

Balai

Plumeau

Brosse

Balloon

Love rivalry

Fight

Engulfment

Ballet

Dance

One character replaced by another

Plot twist

Apparition

Apparition of a genie

Chorus

Prosopopoeia

Jouets et mystères

Toys and Mysteries

The Earth being in a near-apocalyptic state after several wars, the survivors seek universal reconciliation and want to create a world in which everyone will be happy, albeit identical and average. Pierrot arrives; the song he is singing about the Moon stirs up a desire for military conquest. When they land on the Moon, the Terriens (Earthlings) are so well received that they do not dare speak of their plan of conquering the Moon; instead, they forsake war once and for all. Mutual visits are planned: the Lunariens (a made-up word for “residents of the Moon”) will come to the next Chicago Fair.

Shadow theatre

Utrillo Miquel

Paris

États-Unis

Chicago

Printed summary

Science fiction

Peace

Happiness

Monotony

Uniformity

Boredom

Journey

Poetry

Party

Procession

Visit

Universal Exposition

Social harmony

Conquest of space

Invention

Satirical

Programme of the Théâtre des ombres parisiennes, Columbian World's Fair, Chicago, 1893.

Pierrot

Opposite worlds

La Conquête de la lune

The Conquest of the Moon

Thanks to a new type of telescope that brought the Moon at one metre, the astronomer Télescopos and his servant Babylas, the watchman of the Observatory of Monaco, made a breakthrough; they end up on the Moon and are unable to leave. They meet strange and fantastic people, either allegorical or taken from recent events. As the Moon is waning, the residents have less and less space and want to go back to Earth. Télescopos, Babylas’s master, builds a new telescope to accomplish that. The play ends with a cellist reciting verses as payment for the journey back to Earth.

Silhouette

Adults

Lemercier de Neuville Louis

Principality of Monaco

Monte Carlo

Strike

Telescope

Women's condition

Divorce

Gender equality

Government

Corruption

Social issue

Shelter

Colonialism

Parliament

Decadence

Astronomy

Psychological novel

Pantheon

Tourism

Fashion phenomenon

Revue fantaisiste en 3 actes

Astronomer

Domestic servant

Writer

Member of parliament

Savage

Guardian

Singer

Actress

Singer (female)

Cellist

Personification

Caricature

Aria

Current affairs

As-tu vu la lune, mon gas ?

Have you seen the moon, mate?

The first scene is set in the infirmary of a prisoner camp in Germany, at midnight, during the First World War. A French prisoner thinks about his lost loved ones: his wife, his son Jean (a pilot who died in combat), and his grand-children who were left orphans. At that moment arrives the Lune (Moon), “the Queen of Dreams”; she takes him to the land of dreams, and shows him a nursery in Hostiaz.
The second scene introduces an Ours en peluche (teddy Bear) sleeping on a child’s bed. The Lune addresses the Ours and during their conversation we learn that the Ours is in fact a shady businessman who fled to South America after ruining his shareholders. In vain, the Lune tries to convince the Ours to return the stolen money (represented by a diamond hidden in the Ours’ belly). She then starts sharing her heartbreaks: she is in love with Paul, a pilot who was amputated of both his legs. Having learnt of the Lune’s wealthiness, the Ours offers his services to help her gain the Aviateur’s (Pilot’s) love.
Paul opens the third scene, which is set in a living room, where he is with another character, the Rhabilleur (Clock restorer). The Lune tries to seduce Paul but he is the object of the Ours’ mockeries because he received a break-up letter from his fiancée. The Ours tries, in vain, to convince Paul to find comfort with the Lune. We learn that Paul is the brother-in-law of Jean, the dead pilot and son of the prisoner who appeared in the first scene.
A certain Rhodô, who is in love with Jean, took care of the children. The Ours decides to marry Paul to Rhodô because he is attracted to her, but she stays faithful to Jean. The Ours then tries to kiss Rhodô to get hold of her wallet. This triggers a general fight during which the Ours, with his belly ripped open, lets the diamond slip – it explodes in a blinding light. As the sun rises, all the characters run away. 
The fourth scene starts. All the puppets are on the main road. The Ours feels light now that he is rid of the diamond. The Choeur (Choir) and Rhodô teach Paul how to float in the air like a kite. A black dwarf arrives, driving a car. The puppets all climb into the car and drive off to a world beyond. 
The play ends at dawn with the Prisonnier (Prisoner) waking up. After having experienced the bliss of mystical freedom in his dream, he is now condemned to go back to this “eternal captivity”.

Le Voyage de Guignol dans la Lune

Kasperls Heldentaten

Ein Ritterstück aus dem finstern Mittelalter

Jouets et mystères

La Conquête de la lune

As-tu vu la lune, mon gas ?

Revue fantaisiste en 3 actes

L'Ours et la lune

Kasperl Larifaris Mondfahrt

Ein Handpuppenspiel

Dal Catai a Parigi

Angelica alla corte di Re Carlo

Pulcinella di ritorno dalla Luna