The show begins with a ballet by the Angels, who kneel before God. Then Mestre-Salas and Padre Chancas talk in a comic way. In the Garden of Eden, God creates the light, the Sun and the Moon, that all quarrel to determine which one of them is the most important. God creates Adam and Eve, then plants and animals. He asks the couple not to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil under any circumstances. The snake tempts Eve, who bites into the apple of the tree, then has Adam taste it too. God discovers their violation and throws Adam, Eve and the Snake out of paradise. On earth, Adam and Eve live in poverty – Adam works the land and Eve spins wool. Adam is angry and accuses Eve of having caused their misery and he hits her while she insults him. Adam asks for God’s forgiveness. Adam and Eve’s sons, Abel and Cain, make offerings to God. Cain envies God’s preference for his brother and makes fun of Abel (who wets himself out of fear) before killing him. Abel’s corpse is carried into Heaven by the Angels. Eve loses her temper with Cain, who insults her, shows no remorse and defies God. The latter curses Cain by making him all black and damning him. Even in Hell, Cain continues to brag, and he makes fun of demons. He cheats while playing cards again the Devil. The show ends with a gag: a voice in the wings relates that a banger popped in the room and tore a hole in the pants of a member of the audience.

Single rod marionettes

Not specified

Portugal

Borba

Évora

Printed

Genesis

Original sin

Future punishment

Hell

Bible

Adam

Abel

Cain

Angel

Religious

Comical

Farcical

Fantasy

The Ballet of Angels by the Bonecos de Santo Aleixo

Portuguese

God (monotheism)

Choir

Moon

Vicar

Barker

The Interpreter

Demiurge

Snake

Devil

Spinner

Play in verse

Sung scenes

Off-stage voice

Murder on stage

Sarabande

Blow-with-a-stick

Ascent to heaven

Explosion

Animal cry

Pyrotechnics

Aside

Change of head on sight

Comical regional accent

Word warping

Lazzi

Kicking on the ground (sound effect)

Auto da Criação do Mundo

Auto of the Creation of the World

Two friends, Mooney and Spooney, meet. They had pulled a bad prank on the king and were fired for it. Thus, they decide to become stationmasters. Orlando has to take a train to Birmingham, which saddens his wife, Sophonisba. He reassures her by saying he will be home for dinner. They agree to eat mutton. Mooney and Spooney, now stationmasters, start singing instead of talking, as was required by Bradshaw. They meet Kaffir, a mysterious character who does not speak their language. According to Mooney, Kaffir wants to be a train driver. Mooney gives him the position. Mrs. Muddle reaches the platform. She wants to take the train to Birmingham and send a telegram from there. A two-legged Bradshaw’s Guide appears in front of Mooney and asks him in a loud voice why he is not singing. He adds that Spooney sings out of tune and that both of them must stop singing. Orlando, now at the train station, refuses to pay for his train ticket but is forced to do so by the stationmasters. He puts his luggage on the train and leaves to fetch the money. When he comes back an hour later, he learns that the train left with his luggage before the time given by the Bradshaw’s Guide. When the train heading to Birmingham pulls into the station, Spooney and Mooney go warn Mrs. Muddle, but she wants to take an omnibus over the train. She leaves, accusing them of wanting to trick her. When she comes back to pick up her things, she learns that the train left with them. Meanwhile, Sophonisba worries about her husband being late. Their cook, ruined the meal and offers to make an Irish stew instead. Orlando comes home and curses the Bradshaw because the trains do not leave according to the guide’s timetables. Bradshaw comes into play. He states that he took revenge and changed the train schedules because his order of singing was not respected.

Young audiences

Carroll Lewis

Great Britain

Croft-on-Tees

Train station

Revenge

Train times

Train

Journey

Humorous

L. Carroll, La Guida di Bragia. The Lewis Carroll Society of North America, 1999.

English

Announcer

Stationmaster

Husband

Wife

Traveller

Cook

Situation comedy

Song

Personified object

Misunderstanding

La Guida di Bragia

A young alchemist, Émile, and his assistant Guignol are preparing for their final experiment—to create a man. Instead of a man, however, a Monstre (Monster) rises out of the cauldron, scaring the two men as well as Émile’s fiancée, Amélie, the daughter of Baron de Valbreuze. Émile and Guignol go to a cemetery, where they are advised by a Squelette (Skeleton) to question an old Alchimiste (Alchemist), who can teach them how to get rid of the Monstre. The Monstre is devoured by ghosts and disappears. Guignol and Émile go back to the Baron and to his daughter, and the young couple signs a marriage contract.

Glove-puppet

France

Lyon

Alchemy

Creation of a living being

Fear

Sorcery

Fantastic

Le Monstre et l'alchimiste, censorship archives (first page of the text)

French

Le Monstre et l'alchimiste

Alchemist

Guignol

Monster

Skeleton

Undead

Monologue

Apparition of a monster

Graveyard scene

Dead talking character

Apparition of a ghost

Engulfment

Final song

L'Alchimiste

The Alchemist

The enchanter Merlin captured Marie – the young woman loved by the painter Arthur. To free her, Arthur and his valet Guignol go through many adventures. Merlin comes into Arthur’s workshop so that he draws his portrait. Guignol also tries to paint Merlin’s portrait, but he fights with the painting, which keeps transforming because of the enchanter’s spells. Arthur then visits Merlin thanks to a gift from Marie’s godmother – the Fée Merveilleuse (Marvellous Fairy): a talisman that makes him invisible. Only Marie can see him. She advises him to go to the Sorcière’s hut (the Witch’s hut), which he does with Guignol. At the Sorcière’s hut, they meet the madman Richepance – her assistant. The Sorcière welcomes Arthur while Guignol is mistreated for a long time by the furniture of the house which keeps playing with him. Arthur and Guignol can finally save Marie. But she is under a spell by Merlin that makes her look very old. Arthur still wishes to free and marry her, but Marie believes that it would be too great a sacrifice for him to marry an old woman. Merlin is jubilant at the sight of the torn couple. The Fée Merveilleuse is moved by Arthur’s devotion. She sets Marie free from the spell and restores her true appearance. The lovers can finally marry, and Merlin is defeated.

All audiences

Saint-Étienne

Manuscript

Love

Magic

Valet

Kidnapping

Test

Portrait

La Case de la sorcière (cover page)

Magician

Merlin

Fairy

Apparition of a wizard

Magic spell

Set that comes to life

Slaps

Change of age

Invisible force

La Case de la sorcière

The witch's Hut

Guignol – a ragman – is upset as he finds nothing to resell. He comes across Gnafron, who is sleeping. Guignol is engaged to Louison – Gnafron’s daughter – but the three of them are lazy and penniless. They find a poster of the aeronaut Baloffet, who is about to take off for the Moon in a balloon and offers two thousand francs to whoever will go with him. Guignol volunteers and shares half of the advance on the reward with Gnafron. Louison is staying with her father and reproaches him for spending all the money he makes repairing shoes on wine. But the Bailli (bailiff) comes in and offers Gnafron twenty francs so that he shares with him the letters Guignol will send from the Moon. The balloon flies over a few forests then lands in the North Pole, before finally taking off for the Moon. Louison reads out Guignol’s first letter to the Bailli: Guignol is still on his way. On the Moon, the King and Queen attend a party where “mechanised dancers” are performing. Some guards bring in Guignol, who has just arrived. The King and Queen show him their wings. They are surprised to see that Guignol does not have any. They first consider putting him in a cage, but instead they ask him questions about life on Earth and how he travelled to the Moon. Guignol offers to establish business relationships between the Moon and the Earth. The King’s subjects revolt. Having been impressed by the gun Guignol carries, the King appoints him general-in-chief of his army. Guignol sends Baloffet back to Earth so that he brings Louison and Gnafron, who were already packing their things. Back on the Moon, Guignol has defeated the rebels, and he celebrates his victory by drinking wine. The Queen privately confesses her love to him. Gnafron and Louison have arrived on the Moon and come celebrate Guignol’s victory too. Gnafron is appointed as the King’s sommelier and the plays ends with a grand finale and a last verse.

Josserand Claude Louis François (aka Louis Josserand père)

Gas balloon

Meals

Wine

Celebrity

Misery

Revolt

Seduction

Scatology

Guignol dans la Lune

Gnafron

Inhabitants on the moon

Bailli

Prime Minister

Aeronaut

Queen

Guard

Teichoscopy

Letter

Ellipsis

Apotheosis

Versified passages

Flying machine

Le Voyage de Guignol dans la Lune

Guignol travels to the Moon

The action is set in Châteauroux in 1875. Friturin the innkeeper is going away for a few days, leaving his wife Ursule alone with two servants, Jean and Mariette. A traveller, Corisande, arrives at the inn but has to share a room with Madame Friturin. Another traveller, Balandard, claims a bed in a shared room that happens to be the one where Corisande sleeps. Balandard cannot sleep because of the snoring of “his neighbour”, and, not knowing that it is actually Corisande, he shakes her up. Thinking that the aggression comes from Madame Friturin, Corisande protests. After quarrelling, they switch beds. Jean, who is in charge of waking up Corisande so that she can take her diligence, gets confused and wakes up Balandard. Corisande misses her diligence and because she believes that Madame Friturin is next to her, she accuses her of not having woken her up. Eventually, the misunderstanding is revealed. Balandard agrees to drive Corisande to La Châtre after having slept. When Monsieur Friturin comes back sooner than expected, hefinds a man in his wife’s bed. While this happens, a fire sets off in the inn.

Maurice Sand (Maurice Sand)

Nohant

Couple

Night

Fighting

Conflagration

Ironic

Eugène Lambert, George Sand, Maurice Sand : Corisande puppet

Les Oignons de Jeu-Maloche, Une nuit à la Tête de veau

Director of the theatre

Innkeeper

Police Superintendant

Fireman

Maid

Comedy of language

Brawl

Une nuit à Châteauroux

A Night in Châteauroux

On a rainy night, Pulcinella comes back home, prepares his bed and lies down in it. He has just fallen asleep when his friend Felice knocks on his door and asks for shelter from the storm. Felice has just seen Gilda, his fiancée, with a bersagliere (a soldier from a special corps of the Italian army) at the Teatro di San Carlo – the opera of Naples. Overcome with jealousy, he decides to go home but he cannot find his keys. After listening to his friend, Pulcinella offers him a chair to sleep in for the night. Felice cannot fall asleep and starts singing and screaming. Then he imagines that he is fighting the bersagliere and he throws all of Pulcinella’s furniture out of the window, including the bed. Gilda arrives at this moment. She explains that the bersagliere is her brother. She has come to tell Felice that he is going to inherit a large sum of money. Out of joy, Felice promises two millions liras to Pulcinella, who shouts: “per te sarò un principe, per lei sarò un signore, per questo colto pubblico umile servitore” (“for you, I will be a prince, for her I will be a lord, and for this cultured audience, an humbler servant”).

Ferrajolo Pasquale

Italy

Naples

Treason

Friendship

Inheritance

Italian

ovvero Temporale a Mezzanotte

Pulcinella

Fiancé

Felice Sciosciammocca

Fiancée

Thunderbolt

Sound of rain

Sleeping character

Word for another

Address to the public

Throwing objects

'Na nuttata 'e guai

A night of troubles or Storm at midnight

Pulcinella serves the house of Lady Celestina. He comes back from a medical appointment with one kilo of English salt to purge himself. He leaves it in the kitchen. Celestina asks for a favour. He must pose as her husband, who is travelling, and sends back one of her suitors. But Pulcinella cannot remember the sentence Celestina suggested he told the suitor. Meanwhile, Felice – Celestina’s piano teacher – arrives. Felice is starving and drinks a broth in which the English salt has been mixed. Thus, when Celestina asks him to pretend to be her husband, Felice is suffering from stomach aches and cannot rehearse his role either. Then Celestina asks for her neighbour’s help. Contrary to Pulcinella and Felice, endeavours to play his role well – as he used to be an actor in his youth. When Celestina’s suitor arrives, Pulcinella, Felice and the neighbour all play the role of Celestina’s husband. Much confusion ensues, heightened by the arrival of Celestina’s real husband.