Arriving in China after a failed emigration to America, Kasperl finds himself in the service of the Mandarin Quingquing, Emperor Schunschi's "Minister of Confused Affairs". While styling his master's pigtail for the audience, Kasperl gets annoyed at not understanding what Quingquing is saying in Chinese and slaps him to death. Kasperl disguises himself as a Mandarin and goes to the hearing in his place, where he argues with Schunschi. When Schunschi retires, he asks for a drink. A barrel is brought to him, but opening it is an actual Chinese puzzle. The ghost of Quingquing finally emerges. Kasperl knocks him out and then resolves to drink tea, promising himself to return to Germany without delay.

String marionette

Not specified

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Printed

Pigtail

Phantom

Despotism

Triviality

Minister

Barrel

Emigration

Journey

China

Farcical

German

Kasperl

Emperor

Valet de chambre

Slave

Apparition

Disguise

Monologue

Murder on stage

Macaronism

Hyperbolic action

Ridiculous fight

Dialogue of the deaf

Parody of formal language

Slaps

Kasperl in China

Two inhabitants from Gotham run into each other on a bridge. The first inhabitant asks the second one where he is going and what he is about to do. The second one answers that he is going to Gotham, and the first one adds that he is headed to Nottingham to buy sheep. After many misunderstandings, the second citizen states that he will forbid the first one to cross the bridge upon his return. They both fight with wooden sticks without actually hitting each other, and they raise a cloud of dust. A third inhabitant arrives with a donkey that carries sacks of wheat grains. He makes fun of them, and asks them to empty the sacks into the river to explain that their heads are as empty as these bags.

Glove-puppet

Craig Edward Gordon

Italy

Rapallo

Great Britain

London

Madness

Peasant

Comical

Satirical

Absurd

English

A Blithering Interlude for Burattini

Archaic speech

Comedy of language

Misunderstanding

Blow-with-a-stick

The Three Men of Gotham

Les Trois Hommes de Gotham

Christine is in love with Heini, a law student, but her father has promised to give her in marriage to the apothecary, a character so conceited and ridiculous that she cannot tolerate him. Heini resolves to leave for Leipzig in order to finish law school and he makes Christine promise that she will resist the apothecary’s advances in the meantime. The apothecary, however, learns that an uncle has bequeathed his fortune to him before he passed away, provided that he would marry his niece: he easily forgets about Christine. But his baseless allegations about Christine offend her father, and, as he is furious with the apothecary, he calls Heini back in order to organise the wedding of the young lovers.