While the Countess von Eichenfels is running to the aid of her husband, who is seriously wounded at the end of a victorious campaign, their only child Heinrich is taken from his cradle by a Gypsy woman, old Juta. Eight years later, Heinrich escapes from the cave where he was held captive by the gypsy band, while the Gypsies are out robbing on the highways. He finds refuge with Menrad, a hermit and a former comrade-in-arms of the Count's squire, Hannes. In pursuit of the robbers, he stops at the hermitage and, with Menrad's help, surprises the two Gypsies who were looking for Heinrich. In the meantime, Juta has been arrested and has confessed everything to the Count. Hannes and Menrad bring Heinrich back to his parents after eight years in captivity.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Printed

Baby

Family

Balkan War

Gypsies

Cavern

Lost child

Thief

Dramatic

German

Comte

Comtesse

Hermit

Prologue

Song

Story

Monologue

Running away

Transforming scenery

Heinrich von Eichenfels

The Viennese public attends a puppet show in the Prater. The play in question features a hero who is unwillingly involved in a foursome with his lover Liesl and the Duke and Duchess of Lawin. The duel between him and the Duke is cancelled, but he loses the interest of the Duchess and the love of Liesl in the process. Death comes. The audience, which has not stopped commenting on the play, intervenes more and more loudly and the performance turns into a scandal. It is no longer clear who is a spectator, who is a puppet, until a man in a blue coat enters the stage... and cuts the strings of the puppets with a sword, thus discriminating between animate and inanimate.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Schnitzler Arthur

Austria

Vienna

Berlin

Representation

Infidelity

Duel

Self-consciousness of puppets

Local color

Argument

Wrangle

Hanswurst

Uproar

Lust

Entertainment

Burlesque

Satirical

Marionetten

Burleske in einem Akt

Directeur

Poète

Bourgeois

Femme

Fille

Soldat

Serveur

Enfant

Le père

Epoux

Raisonneur

Lutteur

Morte

Valet

La Mort

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Address to the public

Pantomime

Parody of formal language

Versified passages

Stichomythia

Metamorphosis

Character thrown out of the scene

Zum großen Wurstel

To the big sausage

After a prologue in which Casper announces, among other things, that he is going to cut off the ears of children who are not well-behaved, the performance begins. Casper announces that, out of boredom, he wants to become a soldier. He shows his insubordination towards the non-commissioned officer who undertakes to train him by beating him with sticks. The non-commissioned officer sends him to the devil, who arrives: Casper kills him. He returns to his wife, announcing that he will be a general. She hits him with a broom, takes his stick back and they fight.

Sonneberg

Soldier

Army

Military

Silliness

Insubordination

Violence

Spousal abuse

General

Stick

Wickedness

Broom

Household

Couple

Farce

Ironic

Kasperl

Madame Kasperl

Sous-officier

Devil

Word for another

Blow-with-a-stick

Devil's apparition

Domestic scene

Comic Equivocation

Brawl

Casper will Soldat werden

Casper wants to become a soldier

An effusive poet looking for meaning in his life, goes into the forest. He has contradictory feelings and awaits a sign from a superior force. All of a sudden, an old woman apprears. She is almost deaf and their communication hilariously fails. The old woman leaves and the poet, still looking for a sign, announces several adventures often staged by the puppet theatre, such as Faust or Genoveva.