The first act is set in a church, where a group of Dévotes (pious persons) and a group of Sans-culottes (revolutionaries during the French Revolution) confront each other. The revolutionaries want to punish Parisian priests for their abuses and their crimes. As for the Dévotes and the priests, they are impatiently expecting a Catholic army to storm through Paris and put an end to the Revolution. The abbot Blondinet is disguised as a bourgeois and tries to rape Rose, a young girl who manages to escape him. The Sans-culottes want to get rid of the priests. A Magistrat (Magistrate) arrives and seizes the church’s furniture, but Blondinet tells the Dévotes that he managed to hide some of it. The second act is set just outside the church, on a public square. Blondinet set up a “Temporary Chapel” inside the shop of a Savetier (cobbler), next to that of a Fruitère (fruit merchant). A Chansonnier (Singer) and his wife arrive on the square and the people come closer to listen to their songs. A puppeteer, Brioché, joins them with his wife and performs his play of a “new genre” – La Calotte au tombeau. Together, the puppeteer and the Chansonnier condemn the Church’s abuses with the help of puppets and songs. The Sans-culottes exit the church with a stretcher as they perform a symbolic burial of objects of worship. A child from the choir, Cascaret, denounces Blondinet as a thief. The Sans-culottes take him alongside the Dévotes so they can be judged by the Committee of Public Safety. The third act is set in a cave in which three see-through paintings are displayed – La Saint Barthélémy, Le Massacre des Cévennes and Les Vêpres Siciliennes. Standing on a pile of bones, Superstition, Célibat (Celibacy) and Fanatisme (Fanaticism) are chained to posts. The action assumes an allegorical form with these three monstrous figures and several other symbols of crimes caused by religious intolerance. Several references are made to Christoph Willibald’s opera – Orpheus and Eurydice. The Ombre (Shadow) of the revolutionary Marat (murdered in July 1793) is called by the Génie de la France (France’s Genie) who arrives on a cloud. The Ombre rises out of the earth with a bloody shroud around it. The three monsters disappear in a volcano. Instead, a magnificent and luminous temple appears – the Temple of Truth. Liberté (Liberty), Vérité (Truth) and Égalité (Equality) are placed on an altar. The Troup of Sans-culottes also appears and dances with a Magistrate of the people. The Peuple (the People), Orphelins de la Patrie (Orphans of the homeland), the Députés (Deputies) of the National Convention and the Artisans (Craftsmen) march victoriously. The Convention’s President reads out a speech commending the revolutionaries. An Évêque (Bishop) admits his faults and after making a speech praising Raison (Reason), he burns his priestly vestments. The Orphelins and Orphelines who were harmed by fanaticism sing with defenders of the homeland and do gymnastic exercises. The Citoyens (Citizens) of the first requisition showcase military exercises which draw parallels between scenes from Antiquity and from the Revolution. The play ends on an ode to Vérité (Truth), a mention of the victory over the Austrians and the emigrants, and finally a collective ballet.

Not specified

France

Paris

Printed

French Revolution

Sans-culotte

Comic opera

Religion

People

Priest

State

Wealth

Abuse

Justice

Truth

Satirical

Dramatic

Comical

Fantastic

Le Tombeau des imposteurs et l'Inauguration du Temple de la Vérité, 1793 (title page).

French

President

Magistrato

Choirboy

Peasant

Zapatera

Bishop

Charlatan

Jean-Paul Marat

Ghost

Countess

Mother

Daughter

Governess

Troupe de Satellites du fanatisme travestis en Furies

Puppeteer

Puppet

Musical pause

Chorus

Monologue

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Changement de langue

Dialect as a social marker

Allegory

Speechless character

Dance

Public announcement

Avista

Music

Aria

Versified passages

Popular speech

Ballet

Le Tombeau des imposteurs et l'Inauguration du Temple de la Vérité

The impostors' Tomb and the Inauguration of the Temple of Truth

Canezou – a rich Parisian merchant – suggests that her daughter marry the son of his friend Fromaget – a young, rich, handsome and intelligent man. But the fickle girl turns down all commoner suitors. Arthur Galuchait – the son of one of Canezou’s old friends – returns to Paris after having become rich in the Indies, and he proposes to Caroline. Her father warns Arthur about his daughter’s state of mind. The young man leaves an excellent first impression on Caroline but is then thrown out on the street when she discovers that he does not have noble blood. Arthur stumbles on Oscar, another suitor rejected on the same grounds by the fair girl. They both want to teach Caroline a lesson and join up with the carpenter Billembois. Then Arthur goes to Canezou’s house dressed Indian-style to deliver a message from the king Menemetapa – the King wants his son to marry the fair Caroline, his son having fallen in love after seeing her at the Théâtre des Italiens. For this reason, the young Prince is going to grant Canezou the rank of “Grand Crustacé du royaume” (Great Crustacean of the kingdom). Canezou summons his daughter, who trembles with emotion. Oscar is disguised in the middle of a parade of servants and escorts Billembois, who is wearing a fake moustache and the costume of an oriental prince. Billembois proposes to Caroline in a speech of exotic gibberish, and she is enthralled and agrees to marry him. Billembois kisses Caroline. When Canezou and Caroline are about to sign the prenuptial agreement written by Oscar, Billembois has qualms about hurting Caroline. He reveals the fraud and removes his mask. Arthur gets angry at Billembois, who was supposed to disclose his true identity only after signing the agreement. Oscar removes his disguise too. Oscar, Arthur, Billembois and the rest of the procession leave. Cured of her dreams of greatness, Caroline admits that she is still under Billembois’s spell. Canezou is flabbergasted and keeps talking about Fromaget’s son.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Typewriting

Haughtiness

Vanity

Wedding

Orientalism

Didactic

Jean-François Billembois

Parisian urchin

Artisan

Woodworker

Canezou

Merchant (man)

Father

Domestic servant

Young woman

Choir

Aside

Nervous breakdown

Comic distortion of language

Procession

Disguise

Disguised character (false identity)

Kissing scene

Spectacular turn of events

Les Prétendants de Caroline

Caroline's Suitors

Miséria est un vieux forgeron qui passe ses journées à travailler le fer. Son seul plaisir est de prendre soin de son noyer. Un jour, São Pedro (Saint Pierre) vient lui rendre visite, demandant un fer à cheval. Comme il ne lui en reste plus, Miséria lui propose de prendre celui qui est un porte-bonheur en argent. Quelques temps plus tard, São Pedro retourne chez Miséria, disant qu’il peut demander un souhait. Miséria demande que ceux qui grimpent dans son noyer pour voler des noix finissent prisonniers de l’arbre. 
Quand la Mort arrive pour chercher Miséria, il fait un pacte avec le diable, avec lequel il gagne 20 ans. Au bout de 20 ans, la Mort revient. A ce moment, Miséria lui demande un dernier souhait : qu’elle grimpe à l’arbre pour lui chercher une noix. Ainsi, la Mort devient prisonnière du noyer. Tant qu'elle est prisonnière de l'arbre, le soleil ne se couche plus, il n’y a plus de vent, les feuilles restent immobiles ; le monde s’est arrêté. Miséria finit pas libérer la Mort à condition qu’elle lui promette la vie éternelle. La Mort accepte, mais le prévient qu’il regrettera son souhait. La pièce finit avec le vieux forgeron qui travaille le fer, se plaignant de son sort : son arbre qui était la raison de son existence vient de mourir et il reste condamné à la vie éternelle.

Rod puppet

Full-view manipulation

Adults

Portugal

Porto

Magalhães Álvaro

Electronic text

Death

Old age

Tree

Deal with the Devil

Tale

Desires

Human condition

Future punishment

Time

Immortality

Philosophical tale

Tragic

Miséria (Teatro de Marionetas do Porto, 1991)

Portuguese

Old man

Blacksmith

Devil

Saint Peter

Voice

Apparition of a Saint

Narrator

Apparition of Death

Song

Peasant accent

Change of voice

Smoke

Flying character

Miséria

Misère

Pulcinella sings songs from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The intrigued Teresina would like to see this show, but Pulcinella deters her by saying that it is not appropriate for women. Then the two puppets disappear, and the Puppeteer comes out of his booth to announce the staging of a new show and the destruction of his old theatre. He goes back inside the booth. The guarattelle puppets sing the story of a traditional show: the Dog, a Guappo (a gangster) and Death assault Pulcinella, who drives them away so that he can finally marry his fiancée Teresina. Don Giovanni comes on and invites Pulcinella to his marriage with Teresina. Pulcinella asks the Puppeteer for help, but he refuses to get rid of Don Giovanni; instead, he encourages Pulcinella to find another fiancée. Don Giovani sings and dances with several women whom he seduces – a butterfly, a fan, a feather duster and a mouse. Then the women come back crying because Don Giovanni has abandoned them. Then Don Giovanni seduces Teresina. All the characters played by guarattelle arrive to invite Pulcinella to Teresina and Don Giovanni’s marriage. Pulcinella is overcome with sadness and asks every one of them to kill him. The Dog takes his hat off, the Guappo strikes him with a cane, Death removes his black mask and, at the end, the Puppeteer finds the lifeless puppet. But he rejoices, because he will soon serve Don Giovanni and become rich. The Puppeteer waits on the booth’s stage for the feast for Don Giovanni and Teresina’s marriage to be served. But he will only have an olive and a drop a wine. He announces the end of the show, when Pulcinella comes back. Because Don Giovanni will not repent, Pulcinella kills him by removing his head and his clothes and hitting the puppeteer’s hand. As a result, he reunites with Teresina, who tells him that Don Giovanni is impotent. They both dance a last tarentella. At the end, a giant puppet of Pulcinella comes on.

Manipulated object

Giant puppet

Leone Bruno

Italy

Naples

Seducer

Treason

Hunger

Love

Illustration for Bruno Leone's Convitato di Pezza

Italian

Pulcinella

Guappo

Rogue

Teresina

Don Juan

Nursery rhyme

Syntactic parallelism

Dialog between a puppet and its puppeteer

Blow-with-a-stick

Undressed character on stage

Death on stage

Sung scenes

Swazzle

Il convitato di pezza

The feast of rags

A suitcase is moving on the baggage carousel of an airport, of a supermarket or of an industrial area. It is followed by several objects and goods. As the carousel speeds up, the actors handle the goods frenetically. Their struggle to follow the speed of the machine is reflected in their movements. 
The carousel slows down and the actors use their bare hands to mime imaginary objects - glasses being toasted, or a calabash being carried. Then they exchange various objects: a shotgun, a hammer, a book, an axe, … The carousel stops and the actors bring other objects on stage, which they manipulate or simply put on the floor: a small toy car, trophies, a mannequin’s arm, a fire extinguisher, a heater, a loudspeaker, an umbrella, … At the end of the show, boards with outlines representing members of the audience slowly come nearer to the proscenium until the final curtain comes down.

Object theatre

Performance with raw material

Part of a puppet

Mannequin

Storyboard

Labour

Lost object

Memory

Industry

Goods

Lyrical

Igor Gandra, Objeto Encontrado Perdido (Teatro de Ferro, 2015)

Apparition of the puppeteer

Speeding up of time

Mute scene

Metamorphosis

Objeto Encontrado Perdido

Found Lost Object

In an atmosphere recreating the Soviet Union in the 1970s, two actors greet the audience in Russian. They are wearing blond wigs and handing out tickets made of tissues. An old record player, a table with an ancient television covered with a crocheted doily and small china dogs, among other objects, form a kitschy setting. The paper figures show a nose coming off the face of author Nikolai Gogol and going into a bottle of port wine on the table, next to a turtle with Marine Le Pen’s face. Then Theresa May flies across space aboard a T-Rex. Vladimir Putin is turned into a zebra in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body, with Sacha Baron Cohen’s legs (Borat). He will then appear in a two-headed heart alongside Donald Trump. Finally, Jacques Prévert’s and Luís de Camões’s lines are recited and accompanied by an unusual and varied soundtrack (Iggy Pop, Serge Gainsbourg, Juliette Gréco, Yves Montand).

Toy theatre

Lisbon

Politics

Social criticism

Nose

Kitsch

Collage

Culture

Absurd

Este não é o nariz de Gogol mas podia ser... com um toque de Jacques Prévert (Compagnie A Tarumba, 2016)

Le Tombeau des imposteurs et l'Inauguration du Temple de la Vérité

Les Prétendants de Caroline

Miséria

Il convitato di pezza

Objeto Encontrado Perdido

Este não é o nariz de Gogol mas podia ser... com um toque de Jacques Prévert

A revolta dos objetos

Uma conferência animada