Punch is furious because his sister, Mopsa, has been insulted. He offers to avenge her, but Mopsa prefers to go to court to ask their father, the magistrate Gormoncho, to punish the insult. Gormoncho comes on. The stage direction states that he should be wearing regalia, but that thieves have attacked the puppeteers on their way to the city and have stolen it. In court, Wyario, the clerk, reads Gormoncho an accusation against unknown people for robbing the regalia. The magistrate promises to punish the thieves, and moves on to the next case – Mopsa’s complaint. Mopsa accuses Alanio of having sung a bawdy song under her window. Alanio bursts into the room attended with two constables: it turns out that the thief is none other than Gormoncho himself.

Rod and string marionette

Ireland

Printed

Revenge

Judgment

Thief

Morality

Burlesque

English

Magistrato

Clerk

Daughter

Constable

Sergeant

Arrest scene

Court scene

Burlesque upon Magistracy; or, Punch out of Humour

Two hungry lawyers are looking for clients by all means. One would like to urge Pierrot, the other Mme Bégriche to sue anyone under any pretext. But they refuse, flee and then hit the lawyers. The two lawyers join forces to create a dispute: one kills Pierrot's cat and accuses Mme Bégriche of the crime, while the other kills Mme Bégriche's parrot and blames the cat. Dragged to court by their lawyers, the two plaintiffs, victims of the Commissaire's stupidity, were sentenced to be hanged. But they escape without paying any fees and beat up the lawyers who are chasing them. The two lawyers blame each other for this failure and fight to death.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

Hunger

Lawyer

Trial

Speech for the defense

Parrot

Injustice

Crime

Latin

False testimony

Discord

Comical

Satirical

Parodistic

Farcical

French

Pierrot

Police Superintendant

Animal

Misunderstanding

Blow-with-a-stick

Chase

Fight to the death

Parodic trial

Hanging scene

Les Plaideurs malgré eux

The Plaintiffs in spite of themselves

The collection brings together small stories or short heterogeneous dialogues, everyday or absurd scenes on various themes: family, school, work, social conflicts, justice, war, mendicancy, etc. The human turns out to be disposable, just like crumpled paper is.

Drawn character

Not specified

Clermont-Ferrand

Trash can

Dehumanisation

Humanity

Remembrance

Paper

Daily

Consumer society

Disposable human

Absurd

Dramatic

Fantasy

Humorous

ou On est bien peu de chose quand même !

Doctor

Leader

Father

Mother

Woodworker

Actor

Cook

Salesman

Postman

Schoolteacher

African

Child

Nurse

Policeman

Old man

Soldier

Puppeteer

Judge

Prosecutor

Defendant

Flower

Young girl

Lady

Grandmother

Garbage man

Comic distortion of language

Personification

Apparition of the puppeteer

Change of head on sight

Soliloquy

Punching

Metamorphosis

Recounting of memories

Histoires post-it

Post-it stories

Jeannot, a child who has a third eye, is adopted by Clémence and Prudent. They take Jeannot to see a doctor who wants to perform surgery on him. Jeannot rebels and a temporary solution is found: his third eye will be blindfolded so that the child can get used to having two eyes and prepare for the future. For a week, Jeannot lives with his eye covered but becomes sick with melancholy. Clémence decides that he will go to school without covering his eye. On the first day, the other children are either surprised or scared, then they are impressed by Jeannot’s “supersonic” eye. Soon enough, they no longer pay attention to that eye, but they pay attention, rather, to what it makes him see. Jeannot contradicts the schoolteacher regarding Romeo and Juliet, and he is chased out of the classroom. Mariette, a classmate, tells him that she shares his point of view. The head of school tells Clémence and Prudent that their son has been expelled for a week. Mariette pays a visit to Jeannot who is stuck in the house, and she reveals to him that she also has a third eye. They dance together until they are interrupted by the arrival of Mariette’s parents. When Jeannot goes back to school, a student mocks him. Mariette defends Jeannot by showing her third eye to everybody in the classroom, which terrifies the schoolteacher, who thinks there is an epidemic. Some parents take legal action and sue for voluntarily contaminating other children. The judge, who is understanding, thinks that Jeannot can see the colour of the human soul thanks to his third eye. Jeannot asks to become an emancipated minor in order to leave on his own, without his parents. His request having been accepted, Jeannot leaves, although it is difficult to accept for Clémence and Mariette. The narrator reveals herself to be Mariette, who has grown old: it is the day of her birthday and she wishes to see Jeannot again more than anything.

Orphan

Convent

Adoption

Surgery

Vision

Childhood

School

Discrimination

Expulsion

Separation

Birthday

Shakespeare

Narrator

Teacher

Director

Crowd

Avista

Light effects

Dance

Classroom scene

Night scene

Jeannot trois yeux

Three-Eyed Jeannot

A dirty and emaciated Agneau (Lamb) is alone and followed by a Vautour (Vulture) waiting for him to die to eat him. The Agneau arrives in a pasture where he hopes to be taken in by a new Troupeau (Flock). The Troupeau asks him questions and reproaches him for having lied: he said at first that he did not know what had happened to his own flock, before admitting that they had all been killed. The Troupeau therefore refuses to take him in, and the sheep send the Patou – the sheepdog that watches over them – to chase him away. But the Patou knows the lonely Agneau’s original flock. In fact, he was raised there by Bella the ewe, whom he thinks of as her mother. As a consequence, he is convinced that the Agneau is his brother. Patou kisses him, tells him that he can stay in the Troupeau and that dogs and sheep are not different. He starts bleating to prove it and he teaches the Agneau how to bark.

Bourg-en-Bresse

Electronic text

Migrant

Refugees

Inclusion

Pity

Livestock

Identity

Hospitality

Anaïs Vaugelade, L'Agneau a menti, stage direction by Émilie Flacher, 2018.