After having sung the duke of Burgundy's praises, Polichinelle reappears with Madame Gigogne. Both of them start to dance. Madame Gigogne gives birth to girls who give birth to other girls. Polichinelle is delighted about being the grandfather of this “nursery” and promises that it will be at the service of the duke. He asks the duke to recognise him as the only Polichinelle allowed at court.

Rod and string marionette

Young audiences

France

Paris

Printed

Childbirth

Priviledge

Siege

Praise

Laudatory

Comical

Fantasy

French

suivi d'un combat naval et d'un siège de ville

Polichinelle

The Interpreter

Mother Gigogne

Ballet

Multiplied characters

Song

Childbirth on stage

Naval combat

Intermède de marionnettes

Interlude for puppets

Monsieur Sapin (Mister Fir Tree) and Monsieur Fagot (Mister Bundle of Sticks) pretend to be philosophers. They convince Polichinelle to do so too. After quarrelling with her husband Polichinelle, Dame Gigogne also decides to become a philosopher. Outside his shop, Polichinelle puts a sign claiming that he is a philosopher. Arlequin and Gille, who want to take revenge on philosophers, assault Polichinelle, but he defeats them. Monsieur Sapin and Polichinelle see Dame Gigogne walk on all fours before giving birth to many children. All the characters sing a vaudeville together and the children dance at the very end of the play.

Not specified

Cadet de Beaupré (Louis Poinsinet de Sivry, aka Cadet de Beaupré)

Passy

Swazzle

Philosophy

Revenge

Deception

Pedant

Woman

Satirical

Comédie en un acte

Gille

Arlecchino

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Comical entrance

Domestic scene

Final song

Fight

Les Philosophes de bois

The Wooden philosophers

The play is set during the annual Saint-Cloud fair, in the big alley where the fairground theatres are gathered. Cassandre, Paillasse and Jeannot, whom Arlequin meet, rejoice at the news of the return of Mère Gigogne – a well-known figure at the fair, who has what it takes to bring back the joyfulness needed for its success. Paillasse and Jeannot parade to attract people to the stall to see a show about a giant cockchafer and trained stink bugs. Arlequin comes up to a young girl, Jeunesse (Youth), and promises to buy her a reed flute and gingerbread. The audience leave the stall, furious about having been misled, since the show never began. Mère Gigogne, followed by a large procession, appears and dances, giving birth to many children. She blesses the marriage between Arlequin and Jeunesse. The show ends with a sung vaudeville.

Fairground

Birth

Love

Show

Monster

Animal savant

Pierre-Louis Belfort-Devaux, La Foire de Saint-Cloud, 1853.

Cassandra

People

Aria

Oration

Dance

La Foire de Saint-Cloud

The Saint-Cloud Fair

From a bag, the Montreur (Puppet Master) takes the puppets of Punch and Tobby the dog to perform his show. Punch and Tobby meet a deceptive fortune-teller who foresees a tragic future for Punch. Punch and Tobby steal her money, run away, and play a nasty trick on Commissaire (superintendent) Gambrinus. The Adjoint (second in charge) goes after them but ends up being beaten up with a huge stick. Punch meets Judith, and the Montreur pairs them as pimp and prostitute: she seduces the clients and he knocks them out. Later on, Judith gives birth to an adult Anatole, and Punch kills the Professeur (professor) Levieux. The Hydre (Hydra) (“a constant pain in the arse”, at the same time solicitor and social worker) wants to withdraw the custody of Anatole from his father, Punch. They argue and behead the child. Punch kills the Hydre and then strangles Judith. The Commissaire and the Adjoint catch Punch. The trial requires a psychiatrist, but Punch hits the Psycha-cho-chiatre (play on the French word for psychiatrist) and runs off again. He sleeps with Commissaire Gabrinus’ wife, but the Commissaire catches them in the act. Punch is sentenced to death, but he manages to have the Bourreau (executioner) beheaded instead. The Diable (Devil) appears as Tobby and fights Punch but Punch kills him, escaping the fortune-teller’s prediction.

Glove-puppet

Adults

Choisy-le-Roi

Cruelty

Serial murder

Prostitution

Couple

Abortion

Education

Justice

Unfaithfulness

Stick

Polemical

Gore

La Ballade de Mister Punch, poster, 1976.

Punch

Judy

Puppeteer

Child

Police Superintendant

Policeman

Physician

Guardian

Social worker

Judge

Voice

Hand

Psychiatrist

Lawyer

Executioner

Devil

Mise-en-abyme

Slaps

Address to the public

Dialog between a puppet and its puppeteer

Blow-with-a-stick

Chase

Allusion to current political events

Murder on stage

Apparition of the puppeteer

Character thrown out of the scene

Hanging scene

Final intervention of the devil

La Ballade de Mister Punch

Mister Punch’s ballad

Pulcinella calls Teresina, his fiancée. He has already talked with her father and brother, and now wants to plan their wedding, but Teresina admits that they need to solve one last problem. Before falling in love with Pulcinella, Teresina was engaged to Vincenzo Carnevale, who does not know that their love story has ended. Pulcinella agrees to talk to him. First, Pulcinella and Carnevale argue, and fight for Teresina’s love. Then, Pucinella explains to Carnevale that Teresina does not want to marry him anymore. Carnevale pretends to accept this, but decides to sabotage Pulcinella’s wedding. He dresses up as a woman and seduces Pulcinella. As a woman, Carnevale is very attractive and also charms a guappo, Gennarino Cataclisma. When Gennarino realises that Carnevale is a man, he kills him before being murdered by Pulcinella. Pulcinella, Teresina, and the other puppets grieve Carnevale and sing the traditional dirges (nenie) that are dedicated to him in Naples. In Hell, Carnevale meets Gennarino and the pair goes to honour their love. But first, Carnevale asks the devil Farfariello to sabotage Pulcinella and Teresina’s wedding. Farfariello asks his friend the rooster for help: he sends off his fiancée, the hen Cicerenella, to seduce Pulcinella. Pulcinella murders Cicerenella and makes a roast chicken out of her. The rooster seeks revenge. Farfariello curses Pulcinella: when he eats the chicken, he suffers from terrible abdominal pain. A doctor comes to help, misdiagnoses Pulcinella, and calls a midwife. Pulcinella gives birth to a large egg. As he is about to make an omelette with it, a little Pulcinella comes out of the egg, followed by four other Pulcinellini. Teresina, realising that Pulcinella birthed five children on his own, is overjoyed: she will not have to suffer. She is still determined to marry him. They both dance a final tarantella.

Marotte

Leone Bruno

Italy

Naples

Gender

Wedding prevented

Burial

Seduction

Neapolitan

Il parto di Pulcinella

Pulcinella

Teresina

Carnival

Thug

Old woman

Sculptor monk

Death

Cock, cockerel

Doctor

Midwife

Pulcinellino

Nursery rhyme

Cross-dressing

Misunderstanding

Enchantment

Egg eclosion

Storia di Carnevale

Story of Carnival, Pulcinella giving birth

The Scorpioni Verdi and the Ragni Blu – two feuding families – make so much noise that the puppeteer herself wants to get rid of them. However, the Devil convinces her to grant him three days to make peace between the two families. But he cannot use his powers to do it. Instead, he will have to manage this by influencing someone else. The Devil meets Pulcinella and has him bring Areste Paganòs into the world. Areste then becomes the hero of the play. He elaborates a strategy to try and reconcile the feuding families: he will use the love between their children, Rosina Ragno and Rocco Scorpione. In this plot reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, in which Rocco and Rosina drink a poisonous mixture that should put them to sleep but instead accidentally kills them, Areste manages to fulfill his mission. The Devil brings the two lovers back to life and the joy they share at being reunited helps their families understand that they should not have fought. They all celebrate the young couple’s wedding.

All audiences

Broggini Walter

Pau Donatella

Murru Antonio

Cagliari

Rivalry

Enemy families

Enemy

Rewriting

Shakespeare

Pathetic

Didactic

Italian

Mother

Father

Carabiniere

Mayor

Cardinal

Altar server

Apparition of the Devil

Accumulation of events

Fake death

Love story

Areste Paganòs e la farina del diavolo

Areste Paganòs and the devil's flour

In a country at war, a child soldier has managed to escape a military camp. She now goes to school. As she speaks with her teacher, Ismé’s past comes back to her in flashback. We learn about her past as a girl soldier, as well as the past of the children she fought with – more particularly that of Menka, who, after having been raped and having lost her first child, asked Ismé to take care of her second child.

Giant marionette

Saint-Christoly de Blaye

Blaye

Child soldier

Childhood

Rape

Religion

School

Motherhood

Dramatic

Teenager

Baby

Compartmented stage

Analepsis (Flash-back)

Off-stage voice

Monologue

Ismé, l'enfant-soldat

Ismé, the child-soldier

Polichinelle’s humps get in the way of his sleep. Crispin advises him to go find the fairy Mélusine so that she removes them from him. But the Fée (Fairy) is not at home and her daughter, who is still learning magic, gives him the wrong ointment. Polichinelle changes into a camel. He will have to find white roses to break the spell. Madame Dupont-Duteil is on her way to a marriage with a bouquet of white roses. She faints at the sight of the camel eating the flowers and transforming back into Polichinelle. Mère Gigogne, Polichinelle’s mother, gives birth to several children. She helps Madame Dupont-Duteil regain consciousness and has her believe that Polichinelle wants to marry her – news at which she runs away. Vexed, Polichinelle summons the Devil. He traps him in a sewing box and the Devil teaches him how to get rid of his humps—he must find a Parisian Marionnettiste (a Puppeteer). The latter removes Polichinelle’s humps. Having become “like everyone else”, Polichinelle lost his immortality. Death comes to take him away, but He has forgotten His scythe. While Death is looking for it, Polichinelle asks the Parisian Marionnettiste to glue his humps back on him. Death comes back with His scythe and fights with Polichinelle, who prevails. Crispin sets the Devil free. As a way to thank him, Death grants him a wish and Crispin asks to be loved by Madame Dupont-Duteil. He makes a deal with the Devil and Madame Dupont-Duteil invites Crispin over to her house. The Devil laments not having taken Polichinelle’s life but comforts himself with the thought that he has won Crispin who, having left with Madame Dupont-Duteil, is already “in Hell” in a way.