The fisherman Colin finds a golden vase in his nets. The genie Elemaliga is imprisoned inside it. As a gesture of gratitude for having delivered him, Elemaliga bestows magical powers to Colin. With this magical help, Colin triumphs over his rival Philippe, recovers the fortune he should have inherited and marries Lisbette.

Body shadows

Not specified

Marion de Salins Pierre

France

Printed

Swindling

Wedding

Love

Fishing

Seduction

Inheritance

Fantasy

Comical

L'Heureuse Pêche, cover page

French

Comédie pour les ombres à scènes changeantes

Fisherman

Peasant (man)

Genie

Apparition of a genie

Disappearance

Love rivalry

Song

Invisible character

Final song

L'Heureuse Pêche

The Happy Catch

Rugantino is crying because he has just had three children, and a Gypsy woman has predicted that the first would be killed, that the second would kill and that the third would steal. A Genie with wings (a puppet with two wings of a hen) appears and asks him why he is distressed. Once he knows the reason, the Genie gives him advice so that his children do not head for trouble, even if the prophecy turns out to be true. The first will become a soldier so that his death is a source of honour; the second will become a doctor, so that he can kill without anyone reproaching him; the last will become a pork butcher, a job which will allow him to steal without being caught. Rugantino approves of this advice enthusiastically and relates that the pork butcher standing next to him and who is watching the show has indeed stolen from him in the morning of this very day, by selling him two slices of dried sausage for the same price as two whole saucissons. The audience hisses at the pork butcher, who runs and seeks refuge in his shop, which he closes, fearing that people will throw stones and destroy it.

Glove-puppet

Santangelo Gaetano (aka Ghetanaccio)

Italy

Rome

Printed excerpts

Cold cuts

Trade

Satirical

Romanesco

Rugantino

Allusion to the audience

[Rugantino e il pizzicarolo]

Rugantino and the pork butcher

The action is set in China. It begins inside a cave, where the genie Zelou has been turned into the Mostro Turchino (Blue Monster) after having offended the Wise Men of the Sacred Mountain. Zelou will only be freed if he passes this curse to someone else. He unleashes a storm on the lovers Taer and Dardanè and thus separates them. The young girl, Dardanè, is turned into a young man named Acmed; Zelou reveals that she will have to defeat three plagues which are ruining the kingdom of Nanquin if she wants to reunite with her lover Taer: the Mostro Turchino, the Cavaliere Fatato (Enchanted Knight) and an Idra (seven-headed Hydra). These three plagues appeared in the kingdom when the king Fanfur remarried with the beautiful slave Gulindì. Dardanè, looking like the prince Acmed, arouses Gulindì’s love; when she is rejected, the latter forces Dardanè to defeat the plagues. Then, Zelou meets Taer and tells him about Dardanè / Acmed’s fate and about the threats that loom over the kingdom. He invites Taer to enter the cave to read a book which relates his misadventures; then, Zelou summons the Wise Men and passes the Mostro’s appearance onto Taer. Thanks to the Mostro Turchino / Taer’s valuable advice, Dardanè / Acmed defeats the plagues. The Mostro Turchino lets himself be chained, without struggling; the Cavaliere is overcome and, when Dardanè kills the Idra, she also kills Gulindì. Just before she dies, the latter accuses Dardanè / Acmed of having poisoned her. Dardanè / Acmed is sent to jail with the Mostro Turchino. When she is about to be taken to be put to death, the Mostro Turchino reveals the young woman’s true identity, thus breaking the spell which was keeping her in a male body. The Mostro must die, since he has not managed to make Dardanè fall in love with his grotesque appearance; however, just before it is too late, she declares her love to him and the spell which bound Taer to the Mostro’s body is also broken.

Rod and string marionette

Milan

Manuscript

Monster

Magic

Change of identity

Change of gender

Test

Scourge

Il Mostro Turchino, Teatro delle marionette di Giuseppe Fiando, 1815 (cover page)

Italian

ossia un esempio di vera fedeltà

Prince

Slave

Colombine

Gerolamo

Balanzone

Tartaglia

Brighella

Captain

Knight

Executioner

The Blue Monster (Il Mostro Turchino)

One character replaced by another

Metamorphosis

Fighting a monster

Fight

Aside

Avista

Death on stage

Stormy scene

Il Mostro Turchino

The Blue Monster

Witches and spirits dance around the walnut tree. Canidio the evil spirit provokes a hurricane in order to gain control of the beautiful Dorilla, Roberto’s wife, who gets lost in the woods and falls asleep. Canidio transfers her spirit into the body of a deer. Martinazzo, the good spirit, challenges Canidio. The servant of Dorilla and Roberto, Arlequin, meets with his master: they see a dreadful deer and want to kill it but Martinazzo warns them that Dorilla is inside. He gives them the opportunity to join her. Arlequin and Roberto discover Dorilla resisting to Canidio’s flirting. Roberto wants to save his wife but he is bewitched just like Arlequin and they both end up paralyzed and mute under the walnut tree. Martinazzo frees them and explains how to kill the deer with a magic arrow. Roberto and Martinazzo free Dorilla, while Arlequin talks to an ugly old lady who promises him that he will be rich if he marries her. He gives in to greed and accepts, but the old lady is actually a demon. Roberto and Martinazzo defeat Canidio but Arlequin is locked in a cage with him. Dorilla reunites with her husband. Martinazzo frees Arlequin and sentences Canidio to live in a dark cave.

String marionette

All audiences

Jealousy

Spell

Virtues

Initiation tests

Fantastic

Incantation

Spying scene

Confinement

Fight with an animal

Versified passages

Dance

Il Noce di Benevento

The Walnut Tree of Benevento

Dragonne, the Génie’s daughter, is bored. She can neither talk with humans nor leave the forest, because the rivers are controlled by her father’s enemy, Fée Écrevisse (Fairy Crayfish). Being far-sighted, the Génie has prepared a gift for his daughter: the Jam-e-Jam Numai, or the mirror of the universe. This magical mirror shows everything one could want to see, across the entire world. However, the Génie imposes a condition on his daughter: she must never say the name of Fée Écrevisse; if she does, she would fall under her power – irreversibly so. Once she has the mirror, Dragonne watches a fight, hoping that she will find her husband. She focuses on a young warrior, Prince Belle-Épine (Beautiful-Thorn). She orders her father, the Génie, to plan her wedding with this knight. However, the young man is under the protection of Fée Écrevisse, and the king has already decided to marry him to his own daughter Églantine (French medieval name, literally meaning dog rose). Furious, Dragonne laments her fate and says that she is the most unhappy person in the world. Then, looking into the mirror again, she sees the princess Églantine: she orders the Génie to abduct her and make her prisoner. Prince Papillon (Butterfly) arrives at the king’s palace. Chevalier Belle-Épine, the king’s future son-in-law, has given princess Églantine three magical animals: a cat whose fur bristles every time someone tells a lie, a serin that can speak, and a mouse that can sneak everywhere. However, many at court are against this wedding: they do not trust a man capable of obtaining such gifts. Prince Papillon arrives and immediately seduces the entire assembly. He reveals that he has been defeated by Reine Abeille (Queen Bee); he asks the king to protect him. Benevolent, the king offers to accommodate him for three days at the palace. The audience then learns that Prince Papillon wants to marry Princesse Églantine. The third scene begins with Princesse Églantine going missing. The entire court accuses Chevalier Belle-Épine, because the magical animals he has given the princess have also disappeared. Soon after, Prince Papillon also vanishes. Distraught, the knight asks Fée Écrevisse for help: no one but her can counter the power of the Génie, who is the only one capable of catching the magical animals. In the fourth scene, Princesse Églantine, the animals and Prince Papillon are in Dragonne’s cave. The latter wonders whether Chevalier Belle-Épine will come to save his beloved. She demands that the prince and the princess marry, so that the knight can stay with her. She locks them both in a cage, with the animals. The mouse escapes and the serin points the princess to the magical mirror, which is behind the cage. Thanks to it, they can know what is happening in the kingdom. In a hurry, the knight steps on the mouse and kills it. Dragonne comes back; thanks to the mirror, she sees the knight approaching the cave. She hides the prince and the princess in a place even more secret. Meanwhile, the cat manages to leave the cage and hides.
Dragonne welcomes the knight and relates that she saw Princesse Églantine, radiant, in the forest, walking with a prince that looked like a butterfly. The knight takes her word for it. However, the cat suddenly crosses the stage; his fur is bristling. The knight understands that he has been lied to: he declares that he loves Princesse Églantine and promises to take revenge. He steals the magical mirror to give it to Fée Écrevisse, who would do anything to obtain it. Dragonne tells the knight to bid the princess and the prince goodbye, as they will be left with the tigers in the forest. But the knight runs towards the mirror and calls Fée Écrevisse: she appears, furious. With a magical gesture, she turns Dragonne into a lioness. The knight and Princesse Églantine’s wedding can finally be celebrated. The fairy also conjures Reine Abeille, so she can resolve her conflict with Prince Papillon. After a short but decisive conversation, Reine Abeille agrees to marry Prince Papillon. Together, they go back to their kingdom.

Young audiences

Bernard Laure

Le Havre

Father-daughter relationship

Forest

Whim

Fairy

Knighthood

Rivalry in love

Kingdoms

Princess

Kidnapping

Happy marriage

Illustration for Le Jam-e-Jam Numai ou Miroir magique (Laure Bernard, Théâtre de marionnettes, 1837).

King

Daughter

Queen

Nurse

Governess

Dancer

Mouse

Bird

Object magically appearing

Talking animal

Initiatory quest

Hidden character

Magical formula

Character represented in animal form

Change of head on sight

Le Jam-e-Jam Numai ou Miroir magique

The Jam-e-Jam Numai or the Magical Mirror

As a conversation goes on between Cassandre and Pierrot (his servant), we find out that Arlequin wishes to marry Isabelle, Cassandre’s daughter. However, Cassandre wants her to marry someone else. Pierrot takes advantage of the conversation to talk about the rumours going around in town regarding a witch. Cassandre, sceptical, does not believe them. Later, Arlequin relates having met an elderly lady who turned out to be a witch. Shortly afterwards, the lady appears and promises Arlequin a magic power if he becomes her spouse. He refuses and runs away with Isabelle. Suddenly, l’Amour (Love), the Bon Génie (Good Genius), appears in front of Arlequin and Isabelle. He recommends that Arlequin searches for a hazel branch that will be their talisman. However, their plan is soon exposed: the whole Caverne du Sabbat (Sabbath Cave) quickly discovers Arlequin’s intentions. At the same time, Cassandre and Pierrot start looking for Isabelle and Arlequin. In the end, Arlequin manages to get the magical talisman and finds Isabelle. Pierrot and Cassandre, still looking for Isabelle, fall into the earth where an enchanted broom relentlessly chases them, but they escape it.
 Arlequin and Isabelle are still running away while Cassandre and Pierrot keep trying to catch them. However, it is almost midnight: the witch’s powers over Arlequin will soon disappear. At the last moment, the witch manages to capture the lovers, but the Génie appears and reminds her that the evil hour has come. Powerless, she disappears. The Génie promises to take Arlequin and Isabelle to a city full of happiness, and to bring Cassandre and Pierrot as well.

Paris

Servant

Sorcery

Talisman

Sword

Chasing

Happiness

Le Balai de la Sorcière, first page of the manuscript.

Cassandra

Arlecchino

Pierrot

Witch

Music

Magical disappearance

Prologue

Apparition

Blow

Apparition of demons

Chase

Visual pun

Demons dance

Le Balai de la Sorcière

The Witch's Broom

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.

Enchantment

Treason

Hunting

L'Oiseau bleu, first page of the manuscript.

Magician

Gille

Devil

Lord

Misunderstanding

Disguise

Set that comes to life

Situation comedy

Off-stage voice

Graveyard scene

Flying machine

Entering with vehicle

Letter

Blow-with-a-stick

Gunshot

L'Oiseau bleu

The blue Bird

Guignol – Vincent’s servant – has lost his wife Madelon, who ate a melon and died of food poisoning. Vincent plans on having him marry Louison – Gnafron’s daughter – so that his two servants are bound to one another. But Guignol deeply misses his wife, with whom he was always quarreling. He leaves his master’s house with the intention of going down to the Underworld to get her back. However, Gnafron finds Guignol sitting in a wine shop. After an enjoyable meal, they go back to their master. As the marriage settlement is being drafted, Louison is delighted to have finally found a husband. She pushes Guignol in front of her with a hairpin and promises him that she will be as mean as his first wife. But Guignol manages to escape before the contract is signed: Gnafron and Louison chase after him, while Vincent decides to sit at a table to eat with his neighbour Durand.
Guignol is exhausted while looking for Madelon. He falls asleep and sees the Génie of goodness, who presents him in his dream with an image of his wife accompanied by an imp. When he wakes up, Guignol summons the Génie, who warns him about the dangers that await. He also describes the five rivers of the Underworld. But Guignol is a proud man from Lyon: he knows how to swim, and he is not scared! Before Charon lets him on his rowboat for free (Guignol promises that with such prices he will be a most loyal client), he warns the hero that Madelon is Proserpine (Proserpina)’s companion, and Proserpine might not give her back to him. Guignol insists and repeats that he is not afraid of Cerbère (Cerberus). In fact, he means to coax its seven heads with bread and cheese. When he meets Pluton (Pluto), Guignol asks for his wife to be given back to him. The king of the Underworld remembers that the man appealing to him is protected by the Génie of goodness and thus summons his wife. Proserpine refuses to let Madelon go—she clings on to her as to her meanest companion. Then she yields, on condition that the wife consents to it. Madelon arrives, hits her husband and hurls insults at him. But Guignol provides good arguments: he has just come into an inheritance of sugar, coffee, eau de vie and absinthe… After thinking it over for a few minutes, Madelon agrees to follow him, on the flying dragon that Pluton lends Guignol to take them back up to the surface. Before they leave, the king of the Underworld promises to organise a feast for them. They are delighted about the idea, but the flames of the Underworld force them to flee before they can taste anything.

Vuillerme-Dunand Victor-Napoléon

Descent into hell

Resurrection

Glutton

Boat trip

Burlesque

Mock-heroic

Farcical

La Descente de Guignol aux Enfers (cover page)

Notary

Rentier

Guignol

Domestic servant

Gnafron

Concierge

Young woman

Pluto

Proserpina

Charon

Popular speech

Dinner scene

Dream

Domestic scene

La Descente de Guignol aux Enfers

Guignol's Trip to the Underworld

Having graduated from the University of Heidelberg, Anselme has become an assistant at old Hans’s toyshop, in Nuremberg, in order to grow closer to his employer’s daughter, Wilhelmine, whom he secretly loves. The son of the adviser Paykul also courts her. The Jew Mardochée sells them dolls which look like little women sleeping, and he says that they come from the Moon. In the evening, when Anselme is alone, Queen Lunaria and her companions wake up and tell him that they have come from the Moon. Anselme protects them from the monster Angramanyou, genie of underground fire, by delivering toys to him instead. Spiders threaten the women of the Moon, then different objects (household utensils, balloons) become animated, introduce themselves one after the other and dance. Anselme confesses his love to Lunaria, who grows and reveals herself to be Wilhelmine, the two women having been mistaken for one another in a dream. With Hans’s permission, Anselme and Wilhelmine decide to get married.