In the Underworld, Plutone (Pluto) and Proserpina dispatch their armies of Erinyes on Earth, ordering them to punish Odoardo, the tyran from Thebes. Filone and Ormondo, the King's counsels, are waiting for the King to return and celebrate his wedding with the young Erminda. Ormondo confesses his love to Pasquella, Girello's wife, who turns him down: Girello says that he will beat him and, taking revenge, Ormondo sends him to prison. At Court, Doralba, the King's sister, is desperately in love with the slave Mustafa. Filone and Ormondo demand that Girello be punished, and he is sentenced to exile. Mustafa gives him a little money, before joining Doralba and singing his love to her: as he is overeager, Doralba denounces him to Odoardo. Girello, exiled in the woods, meets a magician who introduces himself as the Patriarch of the abyss. To prove his title, he shows him several diabolical creatures. Scared, Girello tries to send him off, but the magician offers to help him. The stage transforms into the entrance of the Underworld: demons are coming out of it to dress Girello with kingly clothes. If he keeps these clothes on and puts a magic root next to the King, Girello will look like Odoardo, and Odoardo will look like Girello. Girello arrives at Court in his new clothes and announces a series of harebrained laws, before calling his counsels “Governator delle galline” (governor of hens) and “Segretario maggior della brachetta” (Secretary General of the (Trousers) Fly). He arrives without his sword, is recognised as Girello, comes back with his sword and is seen as the King, even though his servants think that he has changed because he is no longer greedy. The old Pasquella prays to Girello, whom she believes to be the King, asking him to allow her to marry again so her youth is not lost in waiting for her husband. As for Mustafa, who has been accused of trying to rape the King's sister, he asks for his forgiveness. Girello throws Ormondo and Filone behind bars, chooses Mustafa as his favourite, and tells Pasquella to wait and see what is coming for her. The real Odoardo, surprised to find his counsel in prison, asks Tartaglia to release them. From this arises a first misunderstanding, as Tartaglia cannot make sense of the King's inconsistent orders. Conversely, Mustafa thanks Odoardo for his good deed; the King does not understand why, and he puts him in prison, with Doralba, who confessed that she was in love with the slave. Girello asks for the lovers to be released, then he marries them and sends Filone and Ormondo to the galleys. When Tartaglia tells him about his contradictory behaviour, Girello demands that he be beaten with a stick the next time he loses his memory. Pasquello, begging for a husband, is willing to react positively to the advances of the so-called King, who swears that she will be beaten; Erminda is getting ready to spend the night with Girello, whom she believes to be her husband. Girello manages to slip the root in Odoardo's belongings. The King, standing in front of his doppelganger, fails to understand the situation, and he despairs when Tartaglia asks him to bow before Girello. In prison, where he was sent, Odoardo asks for his wife to intervene in his favour: it is Pasquella, and not Erminda, who answers him. At this point, the magician decides to remove the veil from the mortals' eyes—he turns Tartaglia into a statue, and tells Girello that he is taking his royal status away, for he has misused it. Girello tries to have him beaten, but the magician reveals the truth to everyone. Neither Pasquella nor Erminda knows where her real husband is anymore; as for Mustafa, it is revealed that he is the son of the King of Cyprus and Erminda's brother, which makes his marriage with the King's sister acceptable. The magician sets the example of forgiveness to the King by giving Tartaglia his human form back: Odoardo then forgives Girello.

Not specified

Acciaiuoli Filippo (aka Gran Burattinajo)

Italy

Ronciglione

Venice

Printed

Revenge

Magic

Apparences

Reign

Love

Social condition

Fantasy

Burlesque

Comical

Farcical

Girello, 1668 (front cover).

Italian

Pluto

Proserpina

King

Queen

Sister

Slave

Brother

Pedant

Counselor

Nurse

Gardener

Prison guard

Magician

Music

Play in verse

Prologue

Macaronism

Confinement

Avista

Demons dance

Change of social status

Apparition of a wizard

Apparition of demons

Interlude

Enchantment

Transforming one character into another

Disguised character (false identity)

Role reversal

Misunderstanding

Blow-with-a-stick

Seduction scene

Thwarted love

Love duet

Allusion to the audience

Revelation

Girello

The Wandering Man

Rugantino is crying because he has just had three children, and a Gypsy woman has predicted that the first would be killed, that the second would kill and that the third would steal. A Genie with wings (a puppet with two wings of a hen) appears and asks him why he is distressed. Once he knows the reason, the Genie gives him advice so that his children do not head for trouble, even if the prophecy turns out to be true. The first will become a soldier so that his death is a source of honour; the second will become a doctor, so that he can kill without anyone reproaching him; the last will become a pork butcher, a job which will allow him to steal without being caught. Rugantino approves of this advice enthusiastically and relates that the pork butcher standing next to him and who is watching the show has indeed stolen from him in the morning of this very day, by selling him two slices of dried sausage for the same price as two whole saucissons. The audience hisses at the pork butcher, who runs and seeks refuge in his shop, which he closes, fearing that people will throw stones and destroy it.

Glove-puppet

Santangelo Gaetano (aka Ghetanaccio)

Rome

Printed excerpts

Cold cuts

Trade

Swindling

Satirical

Romanesco

Rugantino

Genie

Apparition of a genie

[Rugantino e il pizzicarolo]

Rugantino and the pork butcher

The shepherd Tityre lives in the Arcadian mountains with his beloved, a Zither player named Lycoris. One day, Lycoris strays away from their home and is captured by Lycophon, a pirate who sells her to a slaveholder Flagellantus, then to the Emperor’s barber Pelliculus and finally to the senator Mamillarus. Tityre follows the pirate ship to save his beloved. In the meantime, Mamillarus and Titus are waiting for a feast to begin. Tityre decides to buy his beloved back, but he does not have enough money. Therefore, he decides to start serving Mamillarus and his wife Mamillara. However, it is discovered that Tityre is in fact Mamillarus’ legitimate son, who was kidnapped by bandits. At the end of the play, César Titus arrives and sings his goodness and his absence of pride, in the fashion of street “hits”. He gives Lycoris her freedom back and offers to pay for the wedding.