Two friends, Mooney and Spooney, meet. They had pulled a bad prank on the king and were fired for it. Thus, they decide to become stationmasters. Orlando has to take a train to Birmingham, which saddens his wife, Sophonisba. He reassures her by saying he will be home for dinner. They agree to eat mutton. Mooney and Spooney, now stationmasters, start singing instead of talking, as was required by Bradshaw. They meet Kaffir, a mysterious character who does not speak their language. According to Mooney, Kaffir wants to be a train driver. Mooney gives him the position. Mrs. Muddle reaches the platform. She wants to take the train to Birmingham and send a telegram from there. A two-legged Bradshaw’s Guide appears in front of Mooney and asks him in a loud voice why he is not singing. He adds that Spooney sings out of tune and that both of them must stop singing. Orlando, now at the train station, refuses to pay for his train ticket but is forced to do so by the stationmasters. He puts his luggage on the train and leaves to fetch the money. When he comes back an hour later, he learns that the train left with his luggage before the time given by the Bradshaw’s Guide. When the train heading to Birmingham pulls into the station, Spooney and Mooney go warn Mrs. Muddle, but she wants to take an omnibus over the train. She leaves, accusing them of wanting to trick her. When she comes back to pick up her things, she learns that the train left with them. Meanwhile, Sophonisba worries about her husband being late. Their cook, ruined the meal and offers to make an Irish stew instead. Orlando comes home and curses the Bradshaw because the trains do not leave according to the guide’s timetables. Bradshaw comes into play. He states that he took revenge and changed the train schedules because his order of singing was not respected.

Young audiences

Carroll Lewis

Great Britain

Croft-on-Tees

Printed

Train station

Revenge

Train times

Train

Journey

Comical

Humorous

Farcical

L. Carroll, La Guida di Bragia. The Lewis Carroll Society of North America, 1999.

English

Announcer

Stationmaster

Husband

Wife

Traveller

Cook

Situation comedy

Word warping

Song

Personified object

Misunderstanding

La Guida di Bragia

The enchanter Merlin captured Marie – the young woman loved by the painter Arthur. To free her, Arthur and his valet Guignol go through many adventures. Merlin comes into Arthur’s workshop so that he draws his portrait. Guignol also tries to paint Merlin’s portrait, but he fights with the painting, which keeps transforming because of the enchanter’s spells. Arthur then visits Merlin thanks to a gift from Marie’s godmother – the Fée Merveilleuse (Marvellous Fairy): a talisman that makes him invisible. Only Marie can see him. She advises him to go to the Sorcière’s hut (the Witch’s hut), which he does with Guignol. At the Sorcière’s hut, they meet the madman Richepance – her assistant. The Sorcière welcomes Arthur while Guignol is mistreated for a long time by the furniture of the house which keeps playing with him. Arthur and Guignol can finally save Marie. But she is under a spell by Merlin that makes her look very old. Arthur still wishes to free and marry her, but Marie believes that it would be too great a sacrifice for him to marry an old woman. Merlin is jubilant at the sight of the torn couple. The Fée Merveilleuse is moved by Arthur’s devotion. She sets Marie free from the spell and restores her true appearance. The lovers can finally marry, and Merlin is defeated.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Saint-Étienne

Manuscript

Love

Magic

Valet

Kidnapping

Test

Portrait

Fantasy

La Case de la sorcière (cover page)

French

Guignol

Magician

Merlin

Fairy

Apparition of a wizard

Magic spell

Set that comes to life

Slaps

Change of age

Invisible force

La Case de la sorcière

The witch's Hut

Truitonne quarrels with her sister Florine – she is unhappy with her own name and reproaches her for being loved by everyone while she is despised. She would like to inflict pain on others and to be loved anyway. Their godfather Enchanteur Rotomago (Sorcerer Rotomago) announces that he would like them to marry: Truitonne with Prince Charmant (Prince Charming) and Florine with himself. Gilles, Prince Charmant’s servant , comes in and announces Prince Charmant’s arrival, but at first the characters mistake him for his master. When Charmant arrives, he immediately notices Florine, while Rotomago tries to draw attention to Truitonne. A Fée (fairy) steps in to warn him that Florine is the woman he must love. Rotomago bribes Gilles so that he helps him set up a trap. He will have Charmant believe that Florine has asked to see him. But taking advantage of the dark, they will make Truitonne come to the rendezvous instead. Thus, Truitonne poses as Florine and Charmant gives her a ring as a token of his love. As he believes that he is speaking to Florine, Charmant wishes out loud that a devil would carry her sister away, and his wish is fulfilled – a devil carries Florine away, but Charmant launches himself after her. Once at the cemetery, Charmant and Gilles meet an apparition of her that tells them that Florine is still alive. Rotomago asks Charmant to marry Truitonne, and when he refuses, he punishes him by changing him into a bird for seven years. Florine is made captive in a tower under the supervision of Gilles, who has them believe that Charmant died of sorrow and of an indigestion of rum babas. A blue bird (Oiseau bleu) enters her room, and Florine understands him to be Prince Charmant. He takes hold of a cane and hits Gilles. Rotomago, Truitonne and Gilles go after Oiseau bleu. The latter comes back to Florine and receives a letter brought by a Bourdon (bumblebee), in which he is told about an attack on his kingdom. Gilles glimpses Oiseau, shoots him with a gun then puts him in a magical coach that takes him to his own castle. There, he convinces the Seigneurs (lords) of his court to let him lead an army to battle. Rotomago appears and offers to give him back his human form on condition that he marries Truitonne. Charmant agrees in order to protect his subjects. As Charmant and Truitonne’s marriage is about to be celebrated, a Génie (Genie) appears with Florine. He transforms the Enchanteur into a turkey and convinces Gilles and Truitonne to marry, while Charmant will marry Florine.

String marionette

Not specified

Paris

Enchantment

Jealousy

Treason

Hunting

Wedding

L'Oiseau bleu, first page of the manuscript.

Princess

Servant

Gille

Prince

Genie

Devil

Lord

Disguise

Off-stage voice

Graveyard scene

Dance

Metamorphosis

Flying machine

Talking animal

Entering with vehicle

Letter

Blow-with-a-stick

Gunshot

Apparition of a genius

Final song

L'Oiseau bleu

The blue Bird

Florestant – a young married man – left his wife in their house and went to see Urinette – a prostitute. However, neither Urinette’s touch nor his own imagination succeed in animating the young man. After several unsuccessful attempts, Urinette – desperate and furious – leaves Florestant alone and ashamed.

Adults

Vaudeville

Slang

Prostitution

Brothel

Adultery

Eroticism

Erotic

Félicien Rops, frontispiece for the Théâtre érotique de la rue de la Santé (1864).

Young man

Prostitute

Monologue

Scene of copulation

Sung scenes

Posture corporelle comique

Comedy of language

Un caprice

A whim

The play is set in Orleans in 1867. Madame Pétenvert (a widow) and Mademoiselle Euphémie are accommodating two captains – Vachard and Chiclair – for three months. They quickly fall in love with their guests and would like to marry them. However, the two captains take advantage of the situation and spend their time talking, in a light-hearted manner, about politics, the army and, at the same, about women, billiards and their love of good food. One day, they are invited to dinner at the colonel’s house. The dinner ends with the two captains being drunk and getting the landladies’ houses mixed up. Thus, the two men being sick, captain Vachard spends the night with Mademoiselle Euphémie while captain Chiclair sleeps with Mademoiselle Pétenvert. The following day, after leaving the houses, they both accuse each other of having disrespected them, because of the state of their slippers and of the beds. However, this conversation about honour ends up being a commentary on the night they have just spent with the two women. The captains accuse the colonel of having treated them “too well” and the latter, in response, orders them to go back to their respective landladies and to marry them.

Maurice Sand (Maurice Sand)

Nohant

Politics

Army

Soldier

Dinner

Glutton

Entertainment

Unfaithfulness

Satirical

Eugène Lambert, George Sand, Maurice Sand : marionette de Madame Pétenvert.

La Garnison d’Orléans, Les Deux Capitaines.

Captain

Colonel

Waiter

Widow

Host

Domestic servant

Allusion to current political events

Nous dînons chez le colonel

We are dining at the colonel's

The play is set in Cannes in 1871. Madame Palmer, her daughter Miss Kate (both Americans), Monsieur Balandard and his nephew Arthur, a young painter, are staying in a hotel. The young painter is in love with Miss Kate and paints her portrait. However, Miss Kate does not recognise herself in the painting and suggests, in Arthur’s face, that he find a “real” job. The young man is hurt: he draws a caricature of Miss Kate’s silhouette and complains to his uncle – Monsieur Balandard. Meanwhile, Madame Palmer organises an occult ritual with her daughter to find out the name of the daughter’s future husband. Cléophée, Madame Palmer’s occult “friend”, writes the name “Bal…”. From that moment on, Madame Palmer tries to arrange a marriage between her daughter and Monsieur Balandard. However, the uncle decides to help his nephew. To do so, he organises a fake occult ritual and hides Arthur inside a speaking bubble. In the end, the farce is revealed and faith in occultism is shattered.

Casino

Hotel

Bourgeoisie

Painter

Unrequited love

Arranged marriage

Spirits

Occultism

Trap

Eugène Lambert, George Sand, Maurice Sand : puppet of Arthur Dupinceau.

L'Oncle et le neveu

Balandard

Innkeeper

Constable

American

Woman of the bourgeoisie

Young woman

Aside

Invocation of the spirits of the dead

Aria

Plot twist

Les Esprits frappeurs

The Spirits that strike

The action is set in Châteauroux in 1875. Friturin the innkeeper is going away for a few days, leaving his wife Ursule alone with two servants, Jean and Mariette. A traveller, Corisande, arrives at the inn but has to share a room with Madame Friturin. Another traveller, Balandard, claims a bed in a shared room that happens to be the one where Corisande sleeps. Balandard cannot sleep because of the snoring of “his neighbour”, and, not knowing that it is actually Corisande, he shakes her up. Thinking that the aggression comes from Madame Friturin, Corisande protests. After quarrelling, they switch beds. Jean, who is in charge of waking up Corisande so that she can take her diligence, gets confused and wakes up Balandard. Corisande misses her diligence and because she believes that Madame Friturin is next to her, she accuses her of not having woken her up. Eventually, the misunderstanding is revealed. Balandard agrees to drive Corisande to La Châtre after having slept. When Monsieur Friturin comes back sooner than expected, hefinds a man in his wife’s bed. While this happens, a fire sets off in the inn.

Couple

Night

Fighting

Conflagration

Ironic

Eugène Lambert, George Sand, Maurice Sand : Corisande puppet

Les Oignons de Jeu-Maloche, Une nuit à la Tête de veau

Director of the theatre

Police Superintendant

Fireman

Maid

Brawl

Une nuit à Châteauroux

A Night in Châteauroux

The Real Lady enters a shop to buy a foil that will accompany her in her social engagements. The Shopman first recommends her a “Real Horror”, whom she turns down. Then, he introduces the Real Artist, the Van Gogh model (only his legs and shoes are visible), but he growls whenever he hears about money and the Shopman advises her against buying it in the end. He suggests a Marionette instead – The Real Gentleman. The Real Lady inspects it closely, buys it and gets out of the shop with it, carrying it around on a leash. From behind a window, art historian John Ruskin and naturalist Charles Darwin followed and briefly commented on the scene. The interlude concludes with other remarks, from Buddha and Ahha, who appeared in a version of The First Prologue and who, accompanied by Parrot, were supposed to travel throughout centuries in the Drama for Fools initial project.

Shadow theatre

Silhouette

Giant marionette

Craig Edward Gordon

Italy

Marina di Pisa

Trade

Shopping

Stooge

Society life

Goods

Monster

Money

People and history

Witness

Absurd

Salesman

Lady

Gentleman

Artist

Vincent Van Gogh

John Ruskin

Charles Darwin

Buddha

Ahha

Parrot

Columbus

Speechless character

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Spying scene

Commentary

A theoretician is giving a lecture on philosophical and artistic concepts inherent to objects and mentioning ancient philosophers and Bauhaus artists, among other people. However, he is constantly interrupted by his assistant sharing information with him, by technical problems or elements that seem out of control: microphones moving in all directions, the light being turned off, objects falling, … In a second part, the conference goes over different works of the company and reveals the creative processes behind the shows and the common thread bringing them together. At the end, the theoretician tries to resume his lecture without success; the technician’s body mysteriously appears on the floor and a phantasmagorical atmosphere spreads. Curtains are brought down several times while the action of the play continues.

Object theatre

Uma conferência animada

A revolta dos objetos

The rebellion of objects