<p>A Priest, whose face looks like those painted by Fra Angelico, gets out of his house, smiling at life. While hearing noise from the modern city and the industrial world, he changes his expression and his voice to better fit the expectations of a churchman. He sees a Soldier and accuses him of having a mistress. The Soldier tells him that his wife is living with the Lawyer. The Lawyer comes and shares his disapproval concerning the Merchant, who openly commits adultery with the Doctor’s wife. The Merchant then exposes the affair between the Doctor and the Actor’s wife, as well as the one between the Actor’s wife and the Doctor’s wife and the Doctor’s daughter’s passion for the Actor. Each of these revelations is followed by the exclamation “It is too much!” from the previous characters, and with a change of expression emphasizing the hypocrisy of their outrage. The Doctor and the Actor enter together, and the Doctor declares that all the women of the village are in love with the Poet. All men rush to their homes to find their wives. The Priest remains alone and asks Mary, his servant, who we can tell is his partner, to set the table to receive the Poet for lunch. He will be accompanied by all of his wives and the children he had with them. The play ends when the children get on stage, through a door opening in the sky and under a rain of rose petals.</p>

String marionette

Not specified

Craig Edward Gordon

Italy

Marina di Pisa

Printed

Hypocrisy

Unfaithfulness

Indignation

Religion

Morality

Comical

Satirical

English

Priest

Soldier

Merchant (man)

Actor

Doctor

Poet

Lover (woman)

Off-stage noise

Change of head on sight

Song

Running gag

Off-stage voice

Avista

Entrance by a hole in the back cloth

Rain of flowers

It is too much

C'en est trop