The ghost of Hamlet’s father reveals to him that he was murdered by his own brother, who succeeded him on the throne of Denmark. He asks his son to avenge him. Hamlet feigns madness to pull the wool over his mother’s and uncle’s eyes, as he stages a puppet play that has them believe he knows about their crime. As he argues with his mother, he discovers that they are being spied on by the courtier Oldenholm and he throws him out the window, into the moats of the castle. Oldenholm’s daughter – Ophelia – believes that his father has died and loses her sanity: but Hamlet has secretly saved him from drowning. Ophelia reunites with her father and comes back to her senses. However, the king wants to dispose of his nephew by sending him to war against Napoleon, under Admiral Nelson’s commands. Hamlet finds out about this conspiracy. During the farewell dance organised for him, he has the king drink the poison that was meant for him. He then ascends the throne of Denmark and marries Ophelia. His uncle, who was saved at death’s door, is exiled to Greenland.

String marionette

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Schink Johann Friedrich

Germany

Ratzeburg

Printed

Philosophy

Idealism

Madness

Murder

Politics

Court life

Plot

Love

Commedia dell'arte

Shakespeare

Satirical

Parodistic

Burlesque

Illustration on the cover page of the 1800 edition.

German

Momus und sein Guckkasten

Ein Marionettenspiel

Hamlet

Guard

Captain

Queen

Courtier

Ophelia

Ghost

Puppeteer

Pantaloon

Colombine

Pierrot

Prince

Il Dottore (Commedia dell'arte)

Scapin

Polichinelle

Prologue

Address to the public

Sung scenes

Monologue

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Comic Equivocation

Allegory

Political allegory

Allusion to current literary events

Instrumental tune

Pantomime

Play in verse

Prinz Hamlet von Dännemark

Hamlet Prince of Danemark

Don Juan murders Don Pietro, who came running to his daughter Anna’s aid for a villain had tried to seduce her by night and, failing to do so, attempted to abduct her. In the following scene, Don Juan receives two successive visits. His servant Hans turns out the first visitor – a creditor asking for his money – while his master hides. Then a judge with a court clerk comes to investigate the death of Don Pietro. Don Juan pretends to be someone else. He then undertakes to leave town incognito by changing clothes with Hans, who boasts about his new role as the master. As the judge nearly recognises them, Don Juan kills him. The two fugitives reach the cemetery, where Don Juan asks Hans to invite Don Pietro’s statue. The ghost agrees and comes over. Don Juan refuses to repent. Hans, to whom the ghost assured there was nothing to fear, follow them to the cemetery out of curiosity, and he sees his master walk into hell.

Austria

Innsbruck

Assassination

Deaf

Creditor

Debt

Seduction

Abduction

Hell

Fart

Judge

Judgment

Laziness

Comical

Innsbrucker Don Juan

Don Juan

Hanswurst

Don Pietro

Anna

Domestic servant

Debtor

Clerk

Bourgeois

Serf

Soldier

Devil

Misunderstanding

Disguise

Role reversal

Running gag

Word for another

Comical regional accent

Murder on stage

Running away

Replacement of one character by another

The tailor Bock lodges a complaint with the mayor Salzmaier against Kasperl, his tenant, for night-time disturbances. Salzmaier wants to put him in prison, but Kasperl, warned by his clerk friend Spritzler, pretends to be Garibaldi, entering the Tyrol leading 50,000 men. He takes up residence in Salzmaier's house, flirts with his wife Margarethe and drinks so much beer... that everyone recognises him: the play ends with a general brawl.

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Excessive drinking

Beer

Spousal abuse

Italy

Army

Ein politisches Trauerspiel, aus dem Italienischen übersetzt

Kasperl

Madame Kasperl

Tailor

Innkeeper

In der Ferne das Garibaldische Armeekorps

Inn scene

Parody of formal language

Dialect

Macaronism

Brawl

Kasperl als Garibaldi

Kasperl as Garibaldi

While all poor people on the outskirts of Munich deposit their savings in Adele Spitzeder's bank, sometimes even selling their businesses to live on their income, Kasperl is looking for a job. Through his brother Baldhauser (also known as Baldes), a door-to-door salesman, he was placed as a doorman at Adele Spitzeder's house. He introduces the bank's customers to the bank office, where she receives them with her proverbial frankness. But at the end of his first day on the job, the police come and arrest the banker for fraud and close the place down: Kasperl beats down the poor people who come to claim their money. The fourth act or epilogue is a picture of country life: following a quarrel with his wife, Kasperl's other brother, Melchior, goes drinking with the town crier. Kasperl and Baldes enter the stage to conclude the play with a song.

Gailler Gabriel

Scandal

Stock exchange

Bank

Embezzlement

Swindling

Money

Bavaria

Society

Peasantry

Popular class

People

Poverty

Misery

Bankruptcy

Marionettenspiel um einen Münchner Finanzskandal im Jahre 1873

Waiter

Peasant

Shepherd

Police officer

Employé municipal

Flying machine

Spectacular turn of events

Catastrophe

Conversation

Slang

Argument

Dialect as a social marker

Caricature

Adele Spitzeder

After the fair Hedwig is taken away from him, Don Juan seduces Zinkelinde, to the utter despair of her tutor Nuckel, who wants her to marry an old man – Purzel. Kasperle pretends to help them find Zinkelinde and puts the two old men in a box. He does not let them out until Nuckel agrees to let Don Juan marry Zinkelinde. As Purzel still tries to stop this union, Kasperle beats him with a stick.

E. Sédouard (Eduard Schlesinger)

Berlin

Mismatched couple

Young girl

Old age

Farcical

Der überrumpelte Hagestolz

Old man

Song

Blow-with-a-stick

Confinement

Forced marriage

The play opens with a “Prologo in cielo” (prologue in the sky) during which the Teatro Vagante (an itinerant theatre) is brought down from the fly towers to the stage: the Teatro Vagante is at once a cave, a house, a cradle, a cart and a theatre. The actors have seen the theatre of the gods, which they have to try recreating now because “a mystery must be revealed”. The mystery is about a country where people are insatiable and keep wanting to eat fresh meat, even though resources are scarce. There are no cattle, an epidemic has broken out in the countryside and rubbish produced by their residents is piling up in the suburbs. This jungle of metal is thought to be the home of spirits called “rottamat”, which people believe to be responsible for the disappearance of several villagers. Everyone praises the butcher for his excellent meat, but he turns out to be an evil character who commits murders to supply meat for his shop. Just like the devil, he takes on numerous shapes: he is simultaneously the Butcher, the Father, the crazy man Matteo and the Emperor. Every morning, the Mother and the Father (the Butcher himself) wait for the butcher’s shop to open so they can buy the best meat, even when their son is in a hospital after having been attacked by the Father. The Mother flirts with the Butcher – who embodies her erotic ideal – until she becomes his victim. Nobody suspects the Butcher. Or maybe everybody keeps quiet so they can keep enjoying his excellent meat? The killings go on until all the villagers have eaten one another. Ultimately, only the Watchman understands that the Butcher is behind the murders, but even he is killed in the end. According to the actors of the Teatro Vagante, only hope remains: “even hell can be transformed – I hope”, one of the actors declares.

Actor and puppet

Shadow theatre

Brescia

Consumer society

Meat

Pollution

Famine

Cannibalism

Death

Ecology

Evil

Tragic

Grotesque

Lyrical

Giuliano Scabia, Fantastica visione, stage direction by Alessandro Marinuzzi, 1993.

Italian

sopra il taglio e la vendita di carne con cenni alla questione degli attori, dell'arte, del teatro e del mercato generale degli oggetti nel disarmonico presente