Jan Klaassen announces to the audience that he has just married Katrijn and talks vulgarly about her. When she arrives, he beats her and continues insulting her. Kleine Ko (a puppet with a very long and expandable neck) arrives on stage dancing, his back to the audience. Jan Klaassen calls out to him, but Kleine Ko shakes his head at every question to answer “no”. His neck expands until it reaches the ceiling, while Jan Klaassen tries to pull him downwards, but Ko disappears. Jan Klaassen calls Katrijn to get a suit out of his suitcase because it is his birthday. Katrijn initially refuses, but Jan insists, and when she opens the case, he pushes her inside it and locks her in. Jan Klaassen tries to sell the suitcase to a merchant. When the latter opens it, Katrijn grabs him, and Jan pushes them both inside. He leaves singing. Jan Klaassen is about to become a soldier. A general arrives and tries to train him in weaponry, but Jan Klaassen plays tricks on him. The general is offended and challenges Jan to a duel. They both fight, using guns as swords. Jan Klaassen deceives the general, kills him and calls the undertakers to bury him. They have a difficult time putting the general in the coffin, but they finally manage it and leave singing. An executioner is setting up the gallows. Jan Klaassen asks the public whether he should be hanged there. When the executioner comes back to hang him, Jan Klaassen pretends not to know where to put his head and asks the executioner to show him. Jan Klaassen takes advantage of the situation and hangs the executioner instead.

Glove-puppet

Marotte

Not specified

Netherlands

Amsterdam

Printed

Swearing

Wedding

Trunk

Trap

Duel

Cunning

Farcical

Comical

Janus Cabalt, Jan Klaassen en Katrijn, screenshot from a 1929 anonymous amateur film.

Dutch

Jan Klaassen

Katrijn

Merchant (man)

General

Gravedigger

Executioner

Dialogue with the audience

Nervous breakdown

Confinement

Blow-with-a-stick

Lengthening of a character

Hanging scene

[Jan Klaassen en Katrijn]

Jan Klaassen and Katrijn

The show is divided into two parts. In the first part, Joseph and Mary arrive at Tirisiti's inn, who refuses to give them shelter. This is followed by the traditional episodes of the angel’s appearance, the nativity, the adoration of the shepherds and the Magi. During the flight to Egypt, the Holy Family finds refuge under a palm tree which conceals them from the eyes of their pursuers. The Captain of the soldiers interrogates the farmers who tell him that they saw the fugitives passing by while they were sowing. At that moment, the wheat sprouts miraculously, confusing the soldiers who give up the pursuit. The tree opens its palms and reveals the Holy Family who continue on their way.
The second part, the one with secular action, is divided in six scenes with situations and characters from Alcoy. The Night watchman announces the time and wakes up the characters one after the other. Tirisiti comically presents the local community on its way to mass. An old man argues with the altar boy who holds the church door. Tirisiti sends his wife Tereseta to mass, who exchanges a kiss with the sacristan, but the crowd warns her husband about it. The community leaves the church at the end of the mass, while Tirisiti is repeating his comments. A bull appears and threatens Tirisiti. The famous bullfighter Clásico makes some bullfighting passes in front of Tirisiti who boasts that he can do better than him. A chase begins between the bull and Tirisiti. The bells ring, announcing the march of Moors and Christians who come forward, as in the traditional Alcoy festival. The city's patron saint, Saint Jordi, appears on top of the castle. Tirisiti decides to leave the city, packs his bags and leaves for the Moon in a hot-air balloon. But the hot-air balloon bursts and Tirisiti falls with it.

All audiences

Pepe Esteve el Betlemero (Josep Esteve, aka el Betlemero)

Spain

Alcoy

Crib

Swazzle

Custom

Nativity

Folklore

Popular theatre

Spanish bullfighting

Party

Gas balloon

Mass (liturgy)

Daily life

Comments

Bullfighting

Christmas

Visitation Festival

Satirical

Religious

Didactic

Catalan

Innkeeper

Virgin Mary

Melchior

Wise Men (Biblical Magi)

Shepherd

Soldier

Night watchman

Grand-father

Sacristan

Bullfighter

Bull

Saint George

Moorish

Joseph

Jesus

Angel

Caspar

Balthazar

Captain

Choirboy

Christian

Ploughman

Narrator

Address to the public

Fight with an animal

Chase

Christmas carol

Instrumental tune

Apparition

Improvised dialogue

Current affairs

El Betlem de Tirisiti

La crèche de Tirisiti

The princess escapes to the moon by walking on a ray of moonlight. Her father, King Cyprian XIII, promises a reward for he who can bring her back to earth. Kasperl and Seppl volunteer and leave on a rocket. They find the princess miserable, forced to cook and clean for the Man on the Moon. Thanks to a trap, Kasperl and Seppl succeed in escaping with the princess. The king thanks Kasperl and wants to offer him a gift, but Kasperl is content with a piggybank—he had to break his own to buy the rocket.

Young audiences

Bertl Hayde (Berta Gründler-Hetmanek)

Austria

Vienna

Rescue

Misfortune

Disillusionment

Tale

Gugelhupf

Birthday

Kitchen

Women's condition

Exploitation

Fantasy

German

Ein Handpuppenspiel für zwei Spieler

Kasperl

Seppl

Inhabitants on the moon

Trumpet (military man/woman)

Town crier

Metatheatre

Improvised scene

Flying machine

Disguised character (false identity)

Aria

Die Fahrt auf den Mond

Le voyage sur la Lune

The Moon Man finds himself on Earth after having secretly travelled in the astronauts' rocket returning from a mission to his planet. He meets Kasperl's grandmother, whom he asks to take control of the rocket to take him back to the moon. When Kasperl and Seppl notice that he is missing, they fly to his rescue in another rocket. The Moon Man wants the grandmother to stay with him all the time to cook for him, which she refuses. When they arrive on the Moon, Kasperl and Seppl trick the Moon Man into thinking they are Moon Calves and then blind him with the light of a torch. Kasperl, Seppl and the grandmother all flee with the rockets, leaving the Moon Man relieved to be alone.

Schultheis Ole

Germany

Rocket

Moon

Cosmic journey

Loneliness

Kidnapping

Animals, Mythical

Ein Kasperlstück

Grandmother

Monologue

Imitation

Kasperl und der Mann vom Mond

Kasperl et l'Homme de la Lune

In the land of Bruixiwood, witches gather to discuss what to do as a group so that no witch leaves their land. They try to set up a few initiatives, like organizing a bullfight, but it does not seem to work. They finally have the idea of ​​renting Bruixiwood in order to shoot a film in which both the witches and the audience will take part. The film is a success, and as a result, all the witches arrive in a broombus to come live and party in Bruixiwood.

Valencia

Electronic text

Sorcery

Stammering

Fantastic

Witch

Comic stuttering

Song

Dancing entertainment

Dance

De pel·lícula... a Bruixiwood

From a film... to Bruixiwood

On a beach by the Tyrrhenian Sea, a woman invokes the devil Serpentone. She wants to ask him to make her invincible and immortal so she can return to her village and take revenge on her compatriots who drove her out, calling her an old witch. The devil arrives, preceded by his deep, dark voice. He is ready to grant her immortality in exchange for something big, something you can see and touch. As the woman has nothing to hand, Serpentone gives her until midnight to find an offering before disappearing into the flames. The woman then prepares a potion in a big pot. Pulcinella, famished, passes by and plunges his head into the pot to eat the soup, but when he stands up again, he discovers he has a big donkey's head. Having effected the transformation, the woman gives the donkey to the devil who takes it to hell where he intends to kill it and make a drum out of its skin. But in trying to kill the animal, the devil frees Pulcinella from the spell. Pulcinella fights with the devil, kills him and escapes from hell to settle scores with the woman who turned him into a donkey. She is about to drink the wine the devil gave her to make her invincible. Realizing Pulcinella wants to kill her, she puts the blame on the audience: she turned Pulcinella into a donkey because the audience asked her to. The "cynical and ruthless" audience responds, saying the accusations are false and the woman is wicked. The audience, thus involved in the performance, finds itself acting out the scene recounted by the woman at the beginning of the show, where her compatriots insult her and drive her out. Pulcinella beats the witch to death with a broom, to much applause from the audience. The moral is that people who are different will always be hunted down without mercy.

Italy

Castellammare di Stabia

Otherness

Harassment

Hate

Malice

Magic potion

Devil

Immortality

Deal with the Devil

Dramatic

Italian

Old woman

Pulcinella

Audience

Teresina

Off-stage voice

Apparition of the Devil

Metamorphosis

Fight

Enchantment

Micro-mouvements

Disappearance

Pulcinella e l'asino del diavolo

Pulcinella et l'âne du diable

The Conteuse (female narrator), with the help of the Voix Off (voice over), narrates the story of the Roi de Panelange (King of Panelange) who loves to change clothes. One day, two Tisserands (weavers) offer to create a fabric that only intelligent people would be able to see. In return, they ask for as many gold coins as there are ants in the kingdom. The Tisserands work in the dark in a big isolated barn, around a big loom. The Roi (King) sends his Prime Minister to check on their progress, but when he gets there, he is unable to see the fabric. He pretends otherwise to the Roi, so that he is not seen as “the First Imbecile of the Kingdom”. The Roi then sends his Cuisinier en chef (head chef), and another person to check on the Tisserands’ work. The fabric is invisible to their eyes, but they all pretend otherwise. The Roi himself goes to see the result of the Tisserands’ work, but the fabric is also invisible to his eyes. He pretends he is able to see it, so that he seems intelligent in front of his court, and he announces that he will wear the fabric for the next procession. When that day arrives, he undresses and puts on the fabric. He awards an honorary distinction to the Tisserands, and starts parading the streets of the kingdom. The fabric remains invisible to the crowd, who only sees a man in his underpants. They all pretend they can see the fabric, except for a child who admits to not seeing anything. The crowd admits the same thing, and says that they can only see their king half naked. To not lose any of his authority, the discombobulated Roi continues to parade as if nothing had happened.

France

Lyon

King

Swindling

Intelligent

Clothes

Money

Invisible

La conteuse et son roi nu, Compagnie Chiloé, 2018.

French

Storyteller

Voice

Prime Minister

Tisserand

Counselor

Cook

Child

Alternating narrative / dialogue

Sound effects

Running gag

Undressed character on stage

Crowd

La Conteuse et son roi nu

The Storyteller and her naked king

Three young chicks speaking different languages travel together. They are looking for the sun, which has not been seen for three days. After meeting other small animals on the way, who guided them, they find that the sun is trapped behind a dark cloud. At the end, they make the sun shine again with the audience’s help.