Conrad, Mattéo, and Stella are in the catacombs. Conrad insists that Mattéo, the servant who accompanied them, leave. Once alone, Conrad forces Stella to swear that she loves him. She trembles in fear, and he thinks that it is proof of a lie; his suspicion comes from a letter he discovered, written by Stella for a certain Strozzi but that she never sent. In a fit of jealousy, he abandons her after cutting the thread that showed them the way out of the catacombs. Stella tries to find the exit, but she collapses in the darkness. A silhouette appears. Four years later, in an inn, Conrad encounters a stranger who seems to recognise him. The stranger introduces himself as Cagliostro, a friend who came to rescue him. He promises to see Conrad again on the day of his wedding with Mathilde de Sarnen, with whom he is in love. Before he leaves, Cagliostro gives Conrad a hammer, a mask, and a rose, and gives him a place and time. At the convent of Aarau, Mathilde de Sarnen asks the abbess Marie de Rudenz for permission to go and see her fiancé. When she discovers the name of the man Mathilde loves, Marie is incredibly furious and forbids their union. Conrad, wearing a mask, slips inside the convent and when he sees Marie, he recognises… Stella. She tries to clarify the letter that caused his jealousy, but Conrad says that he came here for his fiancée, Mathilde. Enraged, Marie threatens to kill Mathilde if he tries to leave with her. She assures him that everything obeys her in the convent, and proves her power. To stop her from ordering him, Conrad fatally hits her throat. The wedding between Mathilde de Sarnen and Conrad de Caldorf is to take place soon. However, Mathilde is suspicious of her fiancé and keeps her distance: she thinks that he murdered Marie. Cagliostro promises Conrad that he will fix everything. He pretends that Marie’s murderer has been caught. Mathilde is now reassured and feels more peaceful. Later, Marie’s ghost appears in front of Conrad. Terrified, he screams, which alerts the guests. Amongst them is the count Henri, who bursts out laughing because of Conrad’s fear. Furious, Conrad challenges him to a duel. Before the duel, the Nonne Sanglante (Bloody Nun)–Marie’s ghost–kills Henri and promises Conrad to find him on his wedding night. During the wedding night, Conrad sees the Nonne Sanglante sitting on the bed next to Mathilde. Frightened, he tries to kill Marie, but blinded by his fear, he fatally hits his wife. The Nonne offers him to run away after setting the building on fire to hide Mathilde’s murder. Conrad pretends to agree, but he locks up the Nonne in the burning building.

String marionette

All audiences

France

Printed

Darkness

Love

Jealousy

Death

Supernatural

Masque

Convent

Revenge

Ball

Phantom

Duel

Conflagration

Melodramatic

Dramatic

Fantastic

French

Lover

Ghost

Count

Cagliostro

Domestic servant

Servant

Innkeeper

Maid

Guests

Failed suicide

Off-stage noise

Music

Avista

Death on stage

Apparition of a ghost

Song

Off-stage voice

Murder on stage

Fire

La Nonne sanglante

The Bloody Nun

A young alchemist, Émile, and his assistant Guignol are preparing for their final experiment—to create a man. Instead of a man, however, a Monstre (Monster) rises out of the cauldron, scaring the two men as well as Émile’s fiancée, Amélie, the daughter of Baron de Valbreuze. Émile and Guignol go to a cemetery, where they are advised by a Squelette (Skeleton) to question an old Alchimiste (Alchemist), who can teach them how to get rid of the Monstre. The Monstre is devoured by ghosts and disappears. Guignol and Émile go back to the Baron and to his daughter, and the young couple signs a marriage contract.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Vuillerme-Dunand Victor-Napoléon

Paris

Manuscript

Alchemy

Monster

Double

Wedding

Cemetery

Comical

Le Monstre et l'alchimiste, censorship archives (first page of the text)

Le Monstre et l'alchimiste

Alchemist

Guignol

Skeleton

Undead

Monologue

Comedy of language

Dialect as a social marker

Aside

Pyrotechnics

Explosion

Apparition of a monster

False exit

Comical fall of a character

Fainting

Magical disappearance

Chase

Dead talking character

Final song

The Alchemist

Arlecchino (Amleto; Hamlet) meets with Facanapa (Orazio; Horatio) and Marcello (Marcelus) on the ramparts to meet his father’s ghost. The thought of it terrifies him, and when the ghost (Lo Spettro in the text) appears, he first refuses to follow him. The ghost reveals that he was killed by his own brother Claudio (Claudius), Arlecchino’s uncle, and asks his son to avenge him while sparing his mother Gertrude, who married Claudio after his death. Arlecchino asks Facanapa and Marcello to swear that they will keep this a secret. Claudio, Gertrude, Brighella (Polonius) and his daughter Ofelia (Ophelia) are talking about Arlecchino’s strange behaviour. Brighella asks Ofelia to speak with him, but Arlecchino is delirious and advises her to join a convent. Arlecchino makes Brighella believe that he is mad, but the latter hides to spy on Arlechinno’s conversation with his mother Gertrude. Arlecchino kills Brighella in his hiding place and reproaches his mother for having married Claudio; but the ghost appears and commands Arlecchino to show Gertrude respect. Laerte (Laertes), Brighella’s son, swears to avenge his father. Gertrude tells Claudio that Arlecchino knows the secret behind his father’s death. Claudio asks Laerte to challenge Arlecchino to a duel, and says that he will put poison on the tip of his sword. Desperate after being rejected by Arlecchino, Ofelia has killed herself. In the cemetery where she is to be buried, the gravedigger (becchino) shows Arlecchino the skull of the jester Yorick. Laerte challenges Arlecchino to avenge both his sister Ofelia and their father Brighella. Arlecchino asks that they swap swords. Wounded, Laerte dies. Gertrude also dies, poisoned by the wine meant for Arlecchino. The latter chases Claudio and kills him; then he falls, telling Facanapa that he too should die. But he gets up, reveals that he was only pretending to be hurt and leaves with Facanapa: the two of them are going to eat polenta. Seeing all these corpses, they lament that they cannot eat them.

Italy

Trieste

Rewriting

Impossible love

Family

Shakespeare

Amleto, ovvero Arlecchino principe di Danimarca. Trieste: Chiopris, 1898.

Italian

ovvero Arlecchino principe di Danimarca

King

Arlecchino

Hamlet

Brighella

Facanapa

Ophelia

Gravedigger

Spying scene

Duel scene

Fake death

Dialect

Amleto

Hamlet, or Arlequin, Prince of Denmark

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.

Lemercier de Neuville Louis

Couple

Avarice

Alcohol

Meals

Threat

Repentance

Farcical

Father

Wife

Nephew

Hidden character

Dinner scene

Situation comedy

Change of voice

Le Fantôme

The Ghost

Guignol tells the Directeur (Director) that he thinks highly of theatre. He asks to be introduced to the audience, and jokes with him about being made of wood. Ubu kills the king Venceslas. The Queen dies, and the Ombre (Shadow) of one of her ancestors gives the young prince Bougrelas a sword, so that he can avenge his father. Ubu robs and slaughters Nobles, dismisses the judges and makes them all fall through the trapdoor. Ubu goes fight the Russian army, and Mère Ubu (Mother Ubu) and her accomplice Giron try to steal his treasures while he is away. On the battlefield, Ubu is chased out by the Russian army led by the Tzar. An Ours (bear) attacks general Lascy and prevails. In the meantime, Ubu has taken shelter in a tree. Mère Ubu meets her husband and they both prepare to leave for France. But Bougrelas appears and has them arrested by the Gendarmes (Police), and asks for them to locked up in France and for Père Ubu (Father Ubu)’s brain to be removed.

Jarry Alfred

Regicide

Tyranny

Theft

Voracity

Treasure

Slaughter

Army

Police (French gendarmerie)

Grotesque

Ubu's puppet in Ubu sur la butte, 1901.

Father Ubu

Mother Ubu

Captain

Queen

General

Emperor

Noble

Clerk

Magistrato

Counselor

Financier

Soldier

Russian

Pole

Bear

Horse

Constable

Prologue

Blow-with-a-stick

Dance

Parade

Plot scene

Battlefield scene

Fight with an animal

Ubu sur la butte

Ubu on the hilllock

In Carlo Magno’s (Charlemagne) royal palace, paladins are getting ready to fight Agramante, who has besieged Paris, and his army. In a wood, while she is waiting for her lover Ruggero, Bradamante kills a snake; then she saves a soldier who was in danger because of another snake. The solider tells him that Ruggero is going to marry Marfisa and he promises Bradamante that he will lead her to Agramante’s camp, so she can challenge Ruggero in a duel. In the enemy camp, the knights are preparing to fight Carlo Magno’s army. Marfisa tends to Ruggero, who was wounded by Mandricardo. When Bradamante arrives, Marfisa goes to fight her in Ruggero’s stead. The two warriors fight in a duel. Ruggero arrives to split them up. When he learns that the knight fighting Marfisa is his beloved Bradamante, he explains that he could not meet with her at the appointed time because he was wounded. Marfisa eavesdrops on the conversation, without being seen, and discovers that Ruggero is in love with Bradamante. Ruggero and Marfisa are about to fight when the ghost of the magician Atlante appears and reveals that they are the twin children of the Chrisitan king Ruggero di Risa. Ruggero and Marfisa reconcile, decide to be christened and to go with Bradamante to Carlo Magno’s court.

Rod marionette

Armed rod marionette

Rod and string marionette

Palermo

Typewriting

Twins

Encounter

Epic

Furiosa e terribile battaglia tra Bradamante e Marfisa per amore di Angelica

Charlemagne (King)

Bradamante

Paladin (female)

Saracen

Moorish

Agramante

Warrior

Marfisia

Warrior (female)

Empress

Roger

Knight

Magician

Atlante

Sword fight

Spectacular turn of events

Battaglia tra Bradamante e Marfisa

Battle between Bradamante and Marfisa

In King Agramante’s camp, where the Moorish knights have gathered to fight Carlo Magno, Rodomonte and Mandricardo decide to challenge each other in a duel for Doralice’s love. But Ruggero does not want Mandricardo to fight under Hercules’ insignias, which he claims for himself. At the end of the duel, Mandricardo dies and Ruggero is seriously injured. In a wood, while she waits for her lover Ruggero, Bradamante kills a rhinoceros. Then she kills a snake and, by doing so, saves a soldier’s life. The soldier tells her that Ruggero is going to marry Marfisa. Bradamante then goes to Agramante’s camp. She challenges Marfisa in a duel. After separating the two duellists, Ruggero chases Bradamante to explain that he has missed their rendezvous because of his injury. Marfisa hides and eavesdrop on their conversation, and so discovers that Ruggero is in love with Bradamante. Ruggero and Marfisa are about to battle when the ghost of the magician Atlante appears and reveals that they are the twin children of the Christian king Ruggero di Risa. Ruggero and Marfisa reconcile, decide to be christened and go with Bradamante to Carlo Magno’s court.

Typed or electronic text with handwritten annotations

Riconoscimento

Rodomonte

Mandricard

Profeta

Sobrino

Doralice

Princess

Gradasse

Rhinoceros

Snake

Battaglia tra Bradamante e Ruggero e Marfisa

Battle between Bradamante, Ruggero and Marfisa. Recognition

On an abandoned lot, Joe talks to his puppet. He cannot bring himself to abandon it and so concludes that he must kill it. He then hits it several times with a brick. At home, his mother is most evidently drunk. She indicates a house and forces him to set it on fire. Joe then meets with his friends and lets them know what he is about to do. At that moment, Stranger, a child none of the other children knows, arrives, but he is soon driven off the lot. Joe’s friends make a deal: one by one, as the dummy is lying on the ground, they drop a brick on it and promise to keep Joe’s secret. The latter sets the house on fire. When he learns that a young boy has died in the fire, he decides to run off to Peterborough with his friends. Before they leave, a man faints before them. The children take care of him and carry him on a stretcher. Once on the road, the world seems to have turned into a wasteland. Some children begin to disappear. Some do not want to continue on carrying the man, although Joe refuses to abandon him. Others are accused of having gone to the police to tell on them. But then the man kills a child with a brick during the night. After the man murders Joe’s remaining friends, the latter is alone. Stranger comes back as a ghost and tells Joe that he has forgiven him. The man from the stretcher is in fact Stranger’s father, and he still wants to kill the child who caused the fire. The play ends with a very short scene, in which Joe says he is “the last person in the world”.