Faust leads a destitute life as a scholar, until he lay hands on a book of black magic. He then sells his soul to the devil Mefistofeles, in exchange for services. Demons also appear to Kasper, whom Faust’s famulus – Wagner – has recently hired. But Kasper adamantly refuses to sell himself to the devil. Mefistofeles takes Faust and Kasper to Parma to lead a loose life. After living in luxury for twelve years, Faust is abandoned by Wagner, who disapproves of his way of life. Faust repents, but eventually gives in to carnal temptation when Mefistofeles presents him the fair Helen, whom he knew in Ancient Greece. Everyone rejects Faust. Kasper, now a night watchman, finds him out in the street within curfew hours and wants to throw him behind bars. But Faust’s final hour has come, and he is taken away by demons.

String marionette

Not specified

Geisselbrecht Johann Georg

Germany

Printed

University

Scholar

Wittenberg

Philosopher's stone

Foreign languages

Laziness

Sorcery

Necromancy

Perlicke

Middle Ages

Crow

Pluto

Coffee

Penitence

Eroticism

Future punishment

Tragic

Burlesque

German

Comödie vom D. Faust ; Schauspiel von dem Doctor Faust

Oder : Der große Negromantist

Faust

Christoph Wagner

Kasperl

Mephistopheles

Devil

Auerhahn

Vizibuzli

Helen of Troy

Night watchman

Monologue

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Tragic irony

Song

Macaronism

Misunderstanding

Lazzi

Word for another

Thunderbolt

Apparition of the Devil

Word reiteration

Pact with the devil

Dream

Versified passages

Bawdy equivocation

Doctor Faust

Charon asks Pluto – the ruler of the underworld – to make devils deliver more souls to him. In Wittenberg, Doctor Faust dreams of knowing everything there is to know and learns necromancy: he then makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles. They leave together for Prague, where they make Alexander the Great and his wife Padamera appear. When he is back in Wittenberg, Faust wants to repent, but Mephistopheles tempts him by offering him the fair Helen of Troy. In the end, during a dinner with his students, everyone abandons Faust: he knows that his final hour has come. At midnight, he will be damned.

Hell

Scatology

Prague

Judeophobia

First page of the play in Johann Scheible's Das Kloster, 1847

Charon

Angel

Pickelhering

Student

Noble

Alexander The Great

Prologue

Dilemma

Apparition

Address to the public

Doktor Johann Faust

The ambitious Doctor Faust begins learning black magic and makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles: he promises him his soul on condition that the latter agrees to serve him. Faust goes to Parma with Mephistopheles and his houseboy Hans Wurst. The houseboy was asked to keep the identity of his master secret, but he gives it away to the duke of Parma as soon as he arrives there. Faust makes several spectacular natural phenomena appear before the duke (Mount Etna erupting, a sea tempest) but the duke’s courtiers hate him for showing the duke their true nature. Faust is forced to flee. Although Hans Wurst is dismissed, he finds refuge with Wagner, Faust’s servant. Mephistopheles eventually secures Faust’s soul by making Helen of Troy fall in love with him. He also shows him that his generosity will not save him, because its benefits also had harmful effects on his protégés. Faust understands that he is damned, takes leave of Hans Wurst and Wagner, and hands himself over to Hell when midnight strikes.

Augsburg

Vice

Cheekiness

Nature

Navy

Brokers

Crucifix

Vanity

First page of the play in Johann Scheible's edition, Das Kloster, 1847

Ein Trauerspiel in 3 Theilen und 9 Aufzügen. (Vom Augsburger Puppentheater.)

Genie

Guardian angel

Satan

Hanswurst

Duke of Parma

Instrumental tune

Board

Improvised scene

Flying machine

Diorama

Johann Faust

The owner of a hotel is facing difficulties because she has been without servants for several days and one of her guests is very sick. Don Procopio and Don Enrico arrive at the hotel. Don Enrico would like to marry Don Procopio’s daughter. But Don Procopio has promised her to an American who is to arrive that very day. Pulcinella comes to the hotel and asks to be hired as a servant, but the old owner mistakes him for a doctor and Pulcinella finds himself forced to care for the sick man. Then, Marietta arrives, followed by Felice, who is courting her frantically. In order to get rid of Felice, Marietta tells him that she is married to a very jealous Spanish man. When Pulcinella arrives, Felice believes that he is Marietta’s husband and challenges him to a duel. While Felice has gone to fetch weapons for the duel, Don Enrico arrives and wants to kill Pulcinella as well, because he thinks that he is the American spouse of his beloved. At the end of the play, all the characters meet on stage and great confusion ensues.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Ferrajolo Francesco

Italy

Salerno

False doctor

Jealousy

Arranged marriage

Love

Duel

Comical

Farcical

Italian

ovvero Pulcinella creduto medico chirurgo, sposo americano e marito spagnolo

Old woman

Host

Sick person

Guardian

Father

Suitor

Pulcinella

Felice Sciosciammocca

Echoing lines

Word warping

Sword fight

Slaps

Ha! Saverio!

Oh! Saverio! or Pulcinella mistaken for a doctor and a surgeon, an American spouse and a Spanish husband

The text is a disjointed succession of small texts full of imagery that tackle in a humorous and poetic manner the ways in which the human brain functions (neurons, grey matter, cerebral hemisphere, transmission of information to organs) and rationalises human feelings, especially love. The texts mention metaphysical themes such as the universe, death, being, space or time. The fragments can take various forms : scenes from everyday life, small story, poem, dialogue, reflexive monologue, aphorism, songs,... Some poems are in italics and follow a rhythmic or phonetic thread.