Pulcinella, an apothecary, is pleased with his situation. Her daughter’s servant, Cannetella, tells him that women have qualities that make good apothecaries. After quarrelling several times about this topic, Pulcinella plans on marrying her. However, Cannatella is in love with a young man, Lisardo, who came to offer his services and work in the shop. Lisardo was hired by Pulcinella and is happy to be progressing with his plans: in fact, under the name Lisardo, a young woman called Delmira is hiding. She came to take revenge on Filarco, who robbed her of her honour and then abandoned her. However, Filarco is now wooing Rosaura, Pulcinella’s daughter. In fact, Rosaura is sick: to cure her, Pulcinella suggests that she marry Damone; she flatly refuses. Filarco sees many similarities between Lisardo and his ex-mistress, whom he believed was dead, but he is still fooled: he asks the young man to help him win Rosaura; Delmira calls him a traitor. To cure Rosaura, Pulcinella hires Damone, who is also a doctor: when the latter woos her during the consultation, she faints. As for Lisardo, he rejects Cannetella’s advances. The servant suggests that Filarco pretends to be a doctor to grow closer to Rosaura: because of her exhortations, Pulcinella summons Damone and Filarco, who examine the young woman together: this leads to double meanings between the young characters, who declare their love to each other. Filarco’s prescription is in fact a love letter, and Lisardo condemns his betrayal (Pulcinella cannot read): however, Rosaura manages to interpret every single word in medical terms. After taking the treatment prescribed by Damone, Rosaura pretends to have gone insane and behaves like Eurydice waiting for her Orfeo (Orpheus). She is so believable that Pulcinella discharges Damone and relies on Filarco: Rosaura pretends to see Orfeo in him; he goes along with it and earns the right to marry her. In an attempt to stop the marriage, Damone discloses that Rosaura is not Pulcinella’s daughter. Therefore, Pulcinella does not have the right to decide who she will marry: Rosaura declares her love to Filarco nonetheless. Delmira reveals who she truly is, and Filarco decides to go back to his first wife. Rosaura then lets herself be talked into marrying Damone, and Cannetella agrees to marry Pulcinella.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

Italy

Rome

Printed

Medicine

Love

Revenge

Cure

Unfaithfulness

Forced marriage

Melodramatic

Burlesque

Farcical

Comical

Pulcinella speziale in villa, 1728 (title page)

Italian

Pulcinella

Apothecary

Young woman

Young man

Physician

Maid

Music

Dialect

Popular speech

Thwarted love

Argument

Love story

Love rivalry

Disguised character (false identity)

Cross-dressing

Character mistaken as a member of the other sex

Love duet

Sick character on stage

Fainting

Situation comedy

Comic equivocation

Scene of madness

Final wedding

Pulcinella speziale in villa

Pulcinella apothecary in the villa

Júpiter, madly in love with Alcmena (Alcmene), sets up a stratagem imagined by Mercúrio (Mercury): while the beautiful woman laments the absence of her husband, the general Anfitriaõ (Amphitryon), who has gone to war, the god disguises himself as her husband and goes to see her. As for the servant Cornucópia, she is talking with Mercúrio, disguised as her husband Saramago. When Saramago arrives and announces his master’s return, he sees Mercúrio, disguised as him: disconcerted, he cannot guide his master when he asks him how the news was received in the house. Juno, Júpiter’s wife, decides to avenge herself for his infidelities. Calling herself Felisarda, she comes down to Alcmena’s house; Júpiter has just left. When the real Anfitriaõ returns, even Juno is fooled and believes that he is in fact her husband Júpiter. The scene also leads to a series of misunderstandings between Anfitriaõ and his wife, who believes that she saw him the day before, and between Saramago and Cornucópia, who reproaches him for his rudeness. Determined to keep the ruse going, Júpiter goes as far as deceiving the soldiers and usurps Anfitriaõ’s military victory. The nymph Iris, disguised as Corriola, attempts to find out the truth by seducing Saramago. Tirésias, in love with Juno, who is pretending to be the daughter of Anfitriaõ’s enemy, agrees to help her: they will take revenge against their husbands. The couples quarrel and reconcile: jealous when she hears the romantic conversations between Saramago and Iris, Cornucópia is forced to think about her own unfaithfulness with the other Saramago. In the meantime, Júpiter reconciles with Alcmena, who was angry with him after a quarrel about the real Anfitriaõ. Mercúrio stops Anfitriaõ from coming by refusing to recognise him: this leads to a violent struggle between the master and his “valet”; when the real Saramago arrives, he is beaten. Anfitriaõ and Saramago break through the door and force Júpiter to leave the house: Anfitriaõ comes face to face with his lookalike. The two suitors are about to kill each other, but they are interrupted by Alcmena, who faints. The scene is paralleled by a confrontation between Mercúrio and Saramago, in front of Cornucópia, who also faints and turns into a dwarf. When Saramago discovers Tirésias and Juno’s love affair, the goddess turns him into an olive tree: Mercúrio and Cornucópia knock down its fruits, then Júpiter engraves the name of his beloved on it, before giving Saramago his original body back. Júpiter meets Alcmena, who is sleeping by the fountain. He is challenged by Anfitriaõ. Mercúrio testifies on behalf of his master, against the real Anfitriaõ. The couple is in a predicament: Tirésias sentences Alcmena to death for her infidelity; doing so, he obeys Juno; Anfitriaõ is put in prison, where he beats Saramago for being the cause of his misfortune. However, the gods intervene, so that the play has a happy ending. Juno frees the prisoners; then, when Alcmena is about to be sacrificed, Júpiter reveals the truth: the stage transforms into an empyrean.

Giant marionette

António José Da Silva (António José da Silva, aka O Judeu)

Portugal

Lisbon

Return from the war

Double

Identity

Usurpation

Encounter

Jealousy

Fantasy

Mock-heroic

Parodistic

Title page and summary of Amphitryaõ (1759)

Portuguese

ou Júpiter e Alcmena

Amphitryon

Husband

Jupiter (Jove)

Mercury

Tiresias

Captain

Servant

Alcmene

Wife

Juno

Iris

Chorality

Transforming one character into another

Clouds

Flying machine

Misunderstanding

Blow-with-a-stick

Duel scene

Change of head on sight

Change of size on sight

Sleeping character

Confinement

Revelation

Deus ex machina

Avista

Anfitriaõ

Dom Gilvaz and Dom Fuas become enamoured with Dona Clóris and Dona Nise, the two nieces of the miser Dom Lanserote; Semicúpio, Dom Gilvaz’s servant, falls in love with their maid Sevadilha. Dona Nise gives her suitor a sprig of marjoram, Dona Clóris gives hers a sprig of rosemary and Sevadilha gifts hers a daisy; they encourage them to make these symbols triumph. The old Fagundes, Dom Lanserote’s maid, agrees to help the lovers. She reveals that one of the young women is promised to the foolish Dom Tibúrcio, and that the other will be sent to a convent. While Dom Tibúrcio is wooing Sevadilha, Semicúpio sneaks into the house; he is carrying a bundle of rosemary for Dom Gilvaz. When he faints, Fagundes sprays water on him and then leaves him with Sevadilha. The two servants bond; this ingenious couple will drive the action of the play. Dom Gilvaz catches Dom Fuas as he is climbing a ladder to break into the house: everyone enters the house and the two rivals, envying each other, engage in dialogues with their beloved. Dom Lanserote stops these outpourings. To escape this bad situation, Semicúpio claims that there is a fire and breaks down the door: the two lords, cornered, pretend to have come to put out the fire. Dom Fuas hides in a trunk to get into the house; he is carried by Semicúpio, who then hides his master Dom Gilvaz in it. While Dom Tibúrcio is courting Sevadilha, Dom Lanserote urges him to choose which of his nieces he will marry. They sit on the trunk. When it is knocked down, the candle goes out: the women arrive on stage for a night scene filled with much confusion. Dom Tibúrcio and Dom Lanserote want to open the trunk, but Dona Nise chases them away by talking about a ghost. Dom Gilvaz thanks Dona Nise, which arouses Dom Fuas’s jealousy. Then Dom Fuas speaks with Dona Clóris, arousing Dom Gilvaz’s jealousy. Semicúpio falls into the trunk. Dom Lanserote and Dom Tibúrcio arrive with light: they open the trunk, out of which comes Semicúpio; as he flees, he blows out the candle and shoves the other characters, who all believe that they are being pushed by their respective companion. The wedding is temporarily cancelled after this quarrel. Dom Gilvaz is waiting for Dona Clóris. He asks Dona Nise to hide him, but Dom Fuas and Dona Clóris find him: they both believe that their lovers have betrayed them. Dom Lanserote has reconciled with his nephew; he summons his nieces and, once again, asks Dom Tibúrcio to choose between them. Dom Fuas, Dom Gilvaz and Semicúpio, dressed as women, accuse Dom Tibúrcio of polygamy: he is forced to leave. In his misfortune, Dom Tibúrcio requires medical care: Dom Fuas, Dom Gilvaz and Semicúpio, dressed as doctors, tell him that he is pregnant; they also prescribe natural remedies to their beloved—marjoram, rosemary and daisy. Dom Gilvaz and his servant break into the garden using a rope. Dom Lanserote is there; he catches Semicúpio and locks him inside the henhouse. By mistake, Dom Fuas sits by the marjoram, and Dom Gilvaz by the rosemary: their lovers come to water the plants and find them: this is the beginning of another fit of jealousy from Dom Fuas and Dona Clóris. Dom Lansarote arrives: the lovers hide in the henhouse, as does Dom Tibúrcio. A judicial officer—Semicúpio in disguise—is with Dom Lanserote: he asks the hiding man to come out of the henhouse and arrests all the lords who walk out of it. In a parodical trial, Semicúpio finds the young women guilty of theft for having stolen the heart of the two lords, and sentences them to marriage; he requests that the costs be covered by Dom Lansarote and Dom Tibúrcio. The weddings put an end to the quarrel between rosemary and marjoram.

Rivalry in love

Prétendants

Deception

Justice

Wedding

Dramatic

Satirical

Lyrical

António José da Silva, Guerras do Alecrim e Mangerona (1759)

Lord

Legal guardian

Niece

Old woman

Jack of all trades

Seduction scene

Hidden character

Running away

Punching

Disguise

Night scene

Macaronic Latin

Arrest scene

Court scene

Guerras do Alecrim e Mangerona

Wars of the Rosemary and of the Marjoram

A Ramoneur (Chimney sweep) falls in the cauldron of the Cuisinière du Roi Noir (The Black King’s Cook), an imposter who murdered his brother the Roi d’Azur (Azure King) and locked up his niece the Princesse d’Azur (Azure Princess) in a cage. Doomed to be cooked in the oven, the Ramoneur is freed by the Corbeau du Roi (King’s Crow) who tells him that the key to the cage where the Princesse is locked up is hidden at the back of the oven. When the Roi Noir discovers that the Ramoneur is still alive, he throws him in the well. The Corbeau asks the Ramoneur to retrieve the Roi d’Azur’s sword at the bottom of the well and to kill the Roi Noir in order to free the Princesse: the Roi Noir threatens the Princesse to kill her if she does not marry him. The Corbeau warns the Roi Noir of the Ramoneur’s intentions, and says that he is invincible; the Roi tells the Corbeau where the royal treasure is hidden to bribe the Ramoneur. The Ramoneur refuses the money, cuts the Roi Noir’s head and frees the Princesse, who wants to marry him in return. The Corbeau lives a happy life with them.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Usurper

Cauldron

Oven

Well

Cage

Sword

Treasure

French

Chimney sweeper

King

Regicide

Black Man

Cook

Baker

Princess

Raven

Bird

Off-stage voice

Fall of a character

Blow

Chase

Character covered in flour

Talking animal

Burnt character

Characters bumping into each other

Headbutt

Character dragged by their feet

Character thrown in a well

Off-stage scream

Sword thrust

Stuck character

La Fortune du ramoneur

The chimney sweep’s fortune

Polichinelle, Pierrot, and Arlequin, want to marry Colombine, the daughter of the wealthy Cassandre. The three suitors are alike in their mediocrity; Cassandre asks his daughter to choose the one that will be her husband. To win her hand, Polichinelle gifts her a ham, Pierrot a bottle of wine, and Arlequin a dandelion bouquet. She violently rejects Polichinelle and Pierrot, and chooses Arlequin. Polichinelle and Pierrot team up to isolate Arlequin, murder him and bury his corpse. They plan on pretending to be Arlequin and his valet in order to marry Colombine and get hold of her father’s money. However, Arlequin, exhumed and reanimated by a pig, arrives just in time to interrupt the wedding between Pierrot (who took his appearance) and Colombine. Pierrot and Arlequin made the pig, the only witness of their crime, disappear (they ate it), so Cassandre does not know what is the truth and who the real Arlequin is. He will accept as the real Arlequin the one who will bring him 1,000 écus. However, Arlequin is poor, and Pierrot gained 1,000 écus after selling his kitchenware: he will marry Colombine the next day. Distressed by their conscience and their gut issues, Pierrot and Polichinelle suffer from a terrible Cauchemar (Nightmare) accompanied with a Gendarme-Saucisse (Sausage-Constable) and a Commissaire-Andouille (Andouille-Superintendent) who repeatedly hit them. Polichinelle and Pierrot call for help, admit to their crimes and express remorse. Colombine and Arlequin can now marry.

Conspiracy

Murder

Cipidity

Gluttony

Nightmare

Silver wedding

Remorse

Relationship between man and animal

Hunger

Grotesque

Duranty, ilustration for "La Tragédie d'Arlequin" (Théâtre des marionnettes du Jardin des Tuileries, 1862).

Cassandre

Cassandra

Colombina

Colombine

Pierrot

Arlecchino

Polichinelle

Scrap metal dealer

Constable

Police Superintendant

Dream

Spectacular turn of events

Dance

Song

Bucket of water poured on someone's head

Ellipsis

Beating with pots

Dinner scene

Back Stroke

Personification

La Tragédie d'Arlequin

Arlequin’s tragedy

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.

Vuillerme-Dunand Victor-Napoléon

Manuscript

Alchemy

Monster

Cemetery

Fantastic

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