Wagner hires Casper to serve his master—Doctor Faust. Destitute and crippled with debts, the latter makes a deal with the devil Mefisdofles: he will make him rich by helping him invent printing. In return, Mefisdofles demands that Faust sacrifice his parents and his wife. Faust murders his father, who has come to blame him for the death of his mother (she died of grief when she learnt that her son made a deal with the Devil). Meanwhile, Mefisdofles poisons Faust’s wife. Then Mefisdofles takes Faust and Casper to the court of Parma. But the courtiers envy the famous scholar and conspire against him: Mefisdofles helps him flee. Casper is sent to Hell, but he is soon let out. Everyone meets in Wittenberg: Faust repents, but he is then seduced by Helehne, whom Mefisdofles introduced to him; she changes into a skeleton when he tries to kiss her. At midnight, Faust is doomed and Casper, now a night watchman, marries the market gardener Anabakuduh, whom he meets in the street after curfew.

All audiences

Bille Johann August

Germany

Greiz

Typewriting

Poverty

Scholar

Professor

Necromancy

Sorcery

People and history

Printing

Debt

Parricide

Matricide

Feminicide

Perlike

Skittles

Poison

Dragon

Wittenberg

Death

Nightwatchman

Tragic

Farcical

Comical

Title page of the manuscript of Johann Georg Bille's Docter Faust

German

Kasperl

Christoph Wagner

Faust

Voice

Angel

Devil

Fury

Mephistopheles

Father

Duke of Parma

Duchess of Parma

Minister

Neighbour (female)

Monologue

Lazzi

Word for another

Song

Off-stage voice

Dilemma

Apparition

Macaronism

Repetition of a word

Pact with the devil

Comic equivocation

Murder on stage

Aside

Echoing lines

Flying machine

Brawl

Metamorphosis

Story

Bawdy equivocation

Final wedding

Docter Faust

Doctor Faustus

The cook Pauline questions Guignol, a hussar, about the date of their wedding, as he has been courting her for a year. The colonel catches them and is displeased with Guignol. Guignol, in turn, reveals that he heard the colonel, while asleep, uttering vows of love to a certain Marie. Shortly afterwards, Amélie, the colonel's daughter, intervenes to ask why her piano teacher is absent.Later, the colonel receives a visit from a countess who has come to ask him why her son, Amélie's piano teacher, has been dismissed, and informs him that he has fallen ill and is in danger of dying. The colonel explains that he decided to separate them because of their young age, to prevent them from falling in love with each other. The countess replies that it is too late, then recounts an episode from the colonel's life: twenty-two years earlier, when he was known as Julien, he and a young girl named Marie were in love. But Marie's father forced her to marry a count. Realising that the Countess is none other than Marie, the Colonel decides to allow Amélie and Marie's son to marry. He leaves with them to go to the young man's bedside. Guignol, after several unsuccessful attempts, kills a cat that was threatening to eat a canary in its cage. Before leaving, the colonel tells him and Pauline that they can marry when he returns and that he will take care of the dowry: he wants everyone around him to be happy.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Josserand père Louis

France

Lyon

Manuscript

Servant

Military

Meals

Love

Remembrance

Wedding

Didactic

French

Le Colonel (The Colonel)

Colonel

Guignol

Countess

Daughter

Cook

Canari

Off-stage noise

Military exercise

Scene of recognition

Plot twist

Blow-with-a-stick

Fight with an animal

Final dance

Julien et Marie

Julian and Mary

While the Countess von Eichenfels is running to the aid of her husband, who is seriously wounded at the end of a victorious campaign, their only child Heinrich is taken from his cradle by a Gypsy woman, old Juta. Eight years later, Heinrich escapes from the cave where he was held captive by the gypsy band, while the Gypsies are out robbing on the highways. He finds refuge with Menrad, a hermit and a former comrade-in-arms of the Count's squire, Hannes. In pursuit of the robbers, he stops at the hermitage and, with Menrad's help, surprises the two Gypsies who were looking for Heinrich. In the meantime, Juta has been arrested and has confessed everything to the Count. Hannes and Menrad bring Heinrich back to his parents after eight years in captivity.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Printed

Infant

Family

Gypsies

Cavern

Lost child

Thief

Dramatic

Count

Hermit

Prologue

Running away

Transforming scenery

Heinrich von Eichenfels

A dove is saved from a vulture by the knight Theobald and finds shelter in the knight’s daughter’s (Agnes) lap. At this moment, their neighbour – a widow called Rosalinde – and her daughter Emma come to ask for Theobald’s protection against Ulrich von der Wart, who wants to grab her land. As a token of friendship, Agnes gives Emma her dove. Ulrich has hired a robber to break into Theobald’s castle to put it to the fire and the sword with the help of his group. The robbers dress as pilgrims and stop at Rosalinde’s place. But Casperl, Rosalinde’s servant, uncovers their plot and tells his madam. Theobald, his family and servants would have been lost had Emma not thought of sending the dove to Agnes, with a message to warn them. The robbers find themselves powerless. Theobald besieges Ulrich’s castle, and the latter is killed during the fight.

Gangster

Middle Ages

Widow

Knighthood

Justice

Rapacity

Friendship

Pilgrimage

Morality

Castle

Drink

Crusades

Siege

Burlesque

Illustration by Franz Pocci for the first edition of the play

Nach einer Erzählung von Christoph Schmid in vier Aufzügen dramatisch bearbeitet

Knight

Dietrich le Noir

Guard

Horserider

Disguise

Letter

Die Taube

The Dove

The tenants of a building (a Baroness, a Knight and a Marquis) meet to ask their landlord, Monsieur Dubost, to evict Guignol, another tenant who plays tricks on them. For instance, he ties a cat to a bell-rope, puts a tight string in the stairs so that everyone who walks there falls, nails planks on the door of an apartment and writes “closed due to a death”. The landlord asks that Guignol explain himself and the latter tells him that this is how he takes revenge on his neighbours for what they put him through. Because he cannot evict Guignol since he pays his rent duly, he offers him to change apartments but Guignol requests a hundred ecus to move out. The landlord refuses and then fetches the Bailli (bailiff) to make a complaint. The Bailli wants Guignol arrested and calls two Cavaliers (Knights) to help him. Guignol drives the three of them out by handing them blows with a stick.

Vuillerme-Dunand Victor-Napoléon

Paris

Neighbourhood

Joke

Revenge

Expulsion

Relocation

Arrest

Les Locataires, manuscript given to the censure authorities, 1866.

Landlord

Baroness

Marquis

Argument

Fight

Les Locataires

The Tenants

Incarcerated for his debts, Casperl is freed from prison by a small child, Capricerl, who is the guide of Fortuna, the blind goddess. While being pursued, Casperl finds refuge with Klaus, a hermit who reveals himself to be the Devil. However, Fortuna bet against Bios, the genie of life, that her gifts could make someone happy: Casperl will be her guinea pig. She repels the Devil and makes Casperl win the lottery. But the newly rich man is tyrannical and angry to the point of becoming sick. He goes so far as to miss the simple and modest life he once had, and curses his fortune. The goddess understands her defeat and brings him back to his normal self. Casperl goes to the inn.

Despair

Thirst

Destiny

Happiness

Blindness

Widower

Gas balloon

Jail

Philosophy

Grief

Breaking out

Latin Mythology

Bingo

Tavern

Fantasy

Kasperl im Schuldturm

Genie

Goddess of Fortune

Innkeeper

Old man

Police officer

Verschiedene Erscheinungen und Verwandlungen

Allegory

Apparition of the Devil

Versified passages

Thunderbolt

Chorus

Metatheatre

Address to the public

Slaps

Das Glück ist blind

Luck is blind

The knight Fichtou arrives on stage breathless: he hit an old man in the forest and his horse died by accident. He says goodbye to his horse then leaves the stage. The admiral Caratchou, a pagan, arrives. He is looking for adventures and decides to stay near a bridge to keep people from crossing it. Then he relates his various achievements. The knight Fichtou comes back and they both fight. Fichtou wounds Caratchou and forces him to abjure his religion, before fetching something to drink for him. He comes back with a watering can he took from a farmer after fighting him. Caratchou asks Fichtou to bring him the balms in his luggage to heal his wounds. He coats himself in the balms then stands up, healed, and says goodbye to Fichtou as he leaves, but he forgets his pants. Fichtou meets the Roi (king) de la Drap d’Maison and the prince Drap d’chiel à Bouton and tells them how he has freed the bridge. The prince brags about having won a duel against Caratchou. Then the three of them go have something to eat but the king can only afford some paltry leftovers meant for the cat. The king and prince go hunting. Fichtou meets a farmer and asks him to fetch his wife. He reunites with his wife and asks why she looks so unwell. Fichtou relates his fight against Caratchou and asks her wife why she is so pale. The princess tells him that she has given birth to a stillborn child, who was almost three metres high, and that they had to fold him in half to bury him. They both decide to go have a meal.

Docter Faust

Julien et Marie

Heinrich von Eichenfels

Die Taube

Nach einer Erzählung von Christoph Schmid in vier Aufzügen dramatisch bearbeitet

Les Locataires

Das Glück ist blind

Histoire du terrible chevalier Fichtou

Le Chevalier Soleie

Don Juan

Eine moralische Scene mit einem unmoralischen Nachspiel

Histoire de Paladin Roland