In the Underworld, Plutone (Pluto) and Proserpina dispatch their armies of Erinyes on Earth, ordering them to punish Odoardo, the tyran from Thebes. Filone and Ormondo, the King's counsels, are waiting for the King to return and celebrate his wedding with the young Erminda. Ormondo confesses his love to Pasquella, Girello's wife, who turns him down: Girello says that he will beat him and, taking revenge, Ormondo sends him to prison. At Court, Doralba, the King's sister, is desperately in love with the slave Mustafa. Filone and Ormondo demand that Girello be punished, and he is sentenced to exile. Mustafa gives him a little money, before joining Doralba and singing his love to her: as he is overeager, Doralba denounces him to Odoardo. Girello, exiled in the woods, meets a magician who introduces himself as the Patriarch of the abyss. To prove his title, he shows him several diabolical creatures. Scared, Girello tries to send him off, but the magician offers to help him. The stage transforms into the entrance of the Underworld: demons are coming out of it to dress Girello with kingly clothes. If he keeps these clothes on and puts a magic root next to the King, Girello will look like Odoardo, and Odoardo will look like Girello. Girello arrives at Court in his new clothes and announces a series of harebrained laws, before calling his counsels “Governator delle galline” (governor of hens) and “Segretario maggior della brachetta” (Secretary General of the (Trousers) Fly). He arrives without his sword, is recognised as Girello, comes back with his sword and is seen as the King, even though his servants think that he has changed because he is no longer greedy. The old Pasquella prays to Girello, whom she believes to be the King, asking him to allow her to marry again so her youth is not lost in waiting for her husband. As for Mustafa, who has been accused of trying to rape the King's sister, he asks for his forgiveness. Girello throws Ormondo and Filone behind bars, chooses Mustafa as his favourite, and tells Pasquella to wait and see what is coming for her. The real Odoardo, surprised to find his counsel in prison, asks Tartaglia to release them. From this arises a first misunderstanding, as Tartaglia cannot make sense of the King's inconsistent orders. Conversely, Mustafa thanks Odoardo for his good deed; the King does not understand why, and he puts him in prison, with Doralba, who confessed that she was in love with the slave. Girello asks for the lovers to be released, then he marries them and sends Filone and Ormondo to the galleys. When Tartaglia tells him about his contradictory behaviour, Girello demands that he be beaten with a stick the next time he loses his memory. Pasquello, begging for a husband, is willing to react positively to the advances of the so-called King, who swears that she will be beaten; Erminda is getting ready to spend the night with Girello, whom she believes to be her husband. Girello manages to slip the root in Odoardo's belongings. The King, standing in front of his doppelganger, fails to understand the situation, and he despairs when Tartaglia asks him to bow before Girello. In prison, where he was sent, Odoardo asks for his wife to intervene in his favour: it is Pasquella, and not Erminda, who answers him. At this point, the magician decides to remove the veil from the mortals' eyes—he turns Tartaglia into a statue, and tells Girello that he is taking his royal status away, for he has misused it. Girello tries to have him beaten, but the magician reveals the truth to everyone. Neither Pasquella nor Erminda knows where her real husband is anymore; as for Mustafa, it is revealed that he is the son of the King of Cyprus and Erminda's brother, which makes his marriage with the King's sister acceptable. The magician sets the example of forgiveness to the King by giving Tartaglia his human form back: Odoardo then forgives Girello.

"On foot and by rod" puppet

Marionette with counterweight

Not specified

Acciaiuoli Filippo (aka Gran Burattinajo)

Italy

Ronciglione

Venice

Printed

Revenge

Magic

Apparences

Reign

Love

Social condition

Fantasy

Burlesque

Comical

Farcical

Girello, 1668 (front cover).

Italian

Pluto

Proserpina

King

Queen

Sister

Slave

Brother

Pedant

Counselor

Nurse

Gardener

Prison guard

Magician

Music

Play in verse

Prologue

Macaronism

Confinement

Avista

Demons dance

Change of social status

Apparition of a wizard

Apparition of demons

Interlude

Enchantment

Transforming one character into another

Disguised character (false identity)

Role reversal

Misunderstanding

Blow-with-a-stick

Seduction scene

Thwarted love

Love duet

Allusion to the audience

Revelation

Girello

The Wandering Man

Júpiter, madly in love with Alcmena (Alcmene), sets up a stratagem imagined by Mercúrio (Mercury): while the beautiful woman laments the absence of her husband, the general Anfitriaõ (Amphitryon), who has gone to war, the god disguises himself as her husband and goes to see her. As for the servant Cornucópia, she is talking with Mercúrio, disguised as her husband Saramago. When Saramago arrives and announces his master’s return, he sees Mercúrio, disguised as him: disconcerted, he cannot guide his master when he asks him how the news was received in the house. Juno, Júpiter’s wife, decides to avenge herself for his infidelities. Calling herself Felisarda, she comes down to Alcmena’s house; Júpiter has just left. When the real Anfitriaõ returns, even Juno is fooled and believes that he is in fact her husband Júpiter. The scene also leads to a series of misunderstandings between Anfitriaõ and his wife, who believes that she saw him the day before, and between Saramago and Cornucópia, who reproaches him for his rudeness. Determined to keep the ruse going, Júpiter goes as far as deceiving the soldiers and usurps Anfitriaõ’s military victory. The nymph Iris, disguised as Corriola, attempts to find out the truth by seducing Saramago. Tirésias, in love with Juno, who is pretending to be the daughter of Anfitriaõ’s enemy, agrees to help her: they will take revenge against their husbands. The couples quarrel and reconcile: jealous when she hears the romantic conversations between Saramago and Iris, Cornucópia is forced to think about her own unfaithfulness with the other Saramago. In the meantime, Júpiter reconciles with Alcmena, who was angry with him after a quarrel about the real Anfitriaõ. Mercúrio stops Anfitriaõ from coming by refusing to recognise him: this leads to a violent struggle between the master and his “valet”; when the real Saramago arrives, he is beaten. Anfitriaõ and Saramago break through the door and force Júpiter to leave the house: Anfitriaõ comes face to face with his lookalike. The two suitors are about to kill each other, but they are interrupted by Alcmena, who faints. The scene is paralleled by a confrontation between Mercúrio and Saramago, in front of Cornucópia, who also faints and turns into a dwarf. When Saramago discovers Tirésias and Juno’s love affair, the goddess turns him into an olive tree: Mercúrio and Cornucópia knock down its fruits, then Júpiter engraves the name of his beloved on it, before giving Saramago his original body back. Júpiter meets Alcmena, who is sleeping by the fountain. He is challenged by Anfitriaõ. Mercúrio testifies on behalf of his master, against the real Anfitriaõ. The couple is in a predicament: Tirésias sentences Alcmena to death for her infidelity; doing so, he obeys Juno; Anfitriaõ is put in prison, where he beats Saramago for being the cause of his misfortune. However, the gods intervene, so that the play has a happy ending. Juno frees the prisoners; then, when Alcmena is about to be sacrificed, Júpiter reveals the truth: the stage transforms into an empyrean.

Rod and string marionette

Giant marionette

António José Da Silva (António José da Silva, aka O Judeu)

Portugal

Lisbon

Return from the war

Double

Identity

Usurpation

Encounter

Jealousy

Mock-heroic

Parodistic

Title page and summary of Amphitryaõ (1759)

Portuguese

ou Júpiter e Alcmena

Amphitryon

Husband

Jupiter (Jove)

Mercury

Tiresias

Captain

Servant

Alcmene

Wife

Juno

Maid

Iris

Chorality

Love rivalry

Clouds

Flying machine

Duel scene

Fainting

Change of head on sight

Change of size on sight

Sleeping character

Deus ex machina

Anfitriaõ

The King Ponto is planning the weddings of his sons: Proteu (Proteus) will marry Dórida, the princess of Egnido, and Nereu (Nereus) will marry Cirene (Cyrene), whose father Políbio has introduced as the Princess of Beócia (Boeotia). Proteu is lamenting his fate because he is in love with Cirene. He tries to convince his father to let him marry her instead of Dórida. Meanwhile, Nereu is happy to be marrying a princess of royal blood; but he cannot appreciate Cirene’s beauty, and she reproaches him for it. Caranguejo introduces himself as a minister of Venus and tries persuading Maresia to marry him; having made a vow of chastity to Diana, she refuses. During a royal hunt, Cirene demands that the King cancel her marriage; as for Dórida, she thinks that Proteu is not eager enough to marry her. A wild boar attacks Maresia; it is in fact Caranguejo, who transforms back into his human form to kiss her. Cirene falls asleep on a mountain covered with flowers, which is in fact one of Proteus’s forms: when the young prince transforms back into himself, Cirene is in his arms. The King decides to bring the two weddings forward to pacify the two princesses. Cirene asks Nereu to love her for herself and not for her lineage, but he cannot do so. As for Proteu, he wishes that Cirene were not a princess so that he could be free to love her. Cirene confesses to her father Políbio that Proteu loves her, and she explains that her marriage with Nereu will be unhappy because she is pretending to be someone she is not. Políbio refuses to change his plans. Sitting on a chair which is in fact Caranguejo, Maresia ends up in the servant’s arms. Cirene is watching the clock into which Proteu has transformed to confess his love to her. While she is about to reveal that she is not a princess, her father interrupts her. Proteu and Políbio fight. Cirene intervenes; Proteu wounds her and, hopeless, tries to kill himself. Políbio confiscates his dagger and is then accused of attempted murder. Cirene demands that Políbio be freed, but the King says that he will only free her if Nereu agrees. Proteu, who transformed into a vase of flowers, decides to die to give Cirene satisfaction. Despite the latter’s pleading, Nereu refuses to agree to Políbio’s release. Maresia is arranging flowers; they are in fact Caranguejo, who begs her to marry him. As Nereu has Políbio taken to the temple of Astraea to put him to death, Proteu arrives with arms to free the prisoner. The brothers duel. Proteu is captured on orders of the King, but he then transforms into the King himself. At the temple, where the sacrifices are to be made, Cirene reveals her true identity. Nereu cancels their marriage, and Proteu proposes to her. The play ends with three weddings: Nereu marries Dórida; Proteu marries Cirene; and Caranguejo marries Maresia.

Metamorphosis

Impossible love

Hunting

Wedding

Seduction

Pastoral

Lyrical

As Variedades de Proteu (1737)

Daughter

Princess

Proteus

Nereus

Neptune

Father

Hunting scene

Macaronic Latin

Sword fight

Sword thrust

Fight with an animal

Transforming scenery

Object coming to life

Unveiling

Final wedding

As Variedades de Proteu

Proteus’s Metamorphoses

A couple made of two numbers give birth to a child, but it is a zero. His father does not accept him, because the child does not look like him. At school, his classmates do not want to play with him either, because he does not have any value. Zero goes to the country of the eights, poses as an eight by joining two zeros, but he realises that the eights are also intolerant. As an eight, he enters the country of the threes, looking like two threes put together, and the threes believe he is a higher being. But when he admits that he is a zero, he is arrested for being an impostor. Then, the threes ask for the wise man’s help. He says that zero adds value to each number, if he stands to their right. Indeed, the numbers realise that if they combine with a zero, they are more valuable. In the end, everyone wants to be friends with the zero. It proves that, on his own, zero was doomed to be nothing and to be sad, but once he lives with other numbers, he is very happy.

Actor and puppet

Tabletop Puppetry

Young audiences

Spain

Valencia

Algimia de alfar

Electronic text

Fable

Numbers

Discrimination

Immigration

Multiculturalism

Didactic

A scene from a performance of História d'un zero, by Empar Claramunt

Catalan

Narrator

Wise man

Història d'un zero

Story of a zero

A flesh-and-blood Pulcinella speaks to the audience about his secret passion for books and, in particular, for Shakespeare's Macbeth. While reading a book and manipulating chess pieces on a small table in front of a castelet, Pulcinella tells the story of Macbeth. At the end, convinced that it's impossible for such a wicked character to die, he casts a spell to keep Macbeth alive. Pulcinella enters in the puppet boots and "Mr. Punch Macbeth" appears on stage.
After hitting his wife Judy and making a sausage with the Baby, Mr Punch-Macbeth meets Hamlet, played by a Pierrot puppet. In an absurd dialogue between the two characters, their stories mingle and Hamlet ends up killing Mr Punch-Macbeth, shouting, « Essere o non essere, non è un problema! » (« To be or not to be isn’t a problem! »). Hamlet falls in love with Juliette, but his brother (a Sicilian pupo) and the puppeteer prevent the marriage of a glove puppet and a marionette. Juliette drinks a potion which makes her appear to be dead. Hamlet swallows a poison which turns him into a glove puppet representing Mobârak (the black valet of the Iranian puppet theater), in the role of Othello.
Othello mistakes Juliette for Desdemona and kills her before remembering that he himself is Romeo. In despair, he commits suicide. Iago enters, interpreted by a puppet with the head of the Neapolitan actor Totò, and proclaims himself king of the wicked. But he is immediately attacked and killed by a Polichinelle playing the part of Richard III. All the characters haunt the sleep of Polichinelle-Richard III: Mr Punch-Macbeth, Hamlet-Romeo, Othello, Iago. In the end, he is pursued by Death, but a horse with Pulcinella’s white hat and black half-mask comes to save him. At this moment, a marotte representing Shakespeare intervenes to bring the show to an end. Accompanied by the song Che cosa sono le nuvole? by Domenico Modugno and Pier Paolo Pasolini, taken from Pasolini's movie of the same name, the puppets make a final appearance on the puppet booth stage.

Girello

Anfitriaõ

ou Júpiter e Alcmena

As Variedades de Proteu

Història d'un zero

Pulchi Shake and Speare

Miscellanea di drammi shakespeariani in guarattellesco by Pulcinella Cetrulo