Botius – a philosopher – lives a happy life. He succumbs to despair and madness when his partner Opina leaves him for another man. He is then attacked by hooligans, who pull his eyes out. Police offices come to his aid, but they lead him near his mother’s skeleton. He falls into a sort of grave and does not manage to escape. He tries to find reassurance in reminding himself that he still has the ability to think. Hooligans urinate on him, and he catches a glimpse of Opina’s legs, which are dangling. A rope appears. He tries to haul himself out of the hole, but the rope only leads to a void. His head is cut in half and his brain explodes and spills all over the floor. His lookalike appears, then so does Opina. She kisses the lookalike and leaves with him. Hooligans are being carried on crosses, on which they are crucified upside down. Their wails torment Botius. He comes closer to them and realizes that they are dead. A cart driver and a horse arrive. Botius calls out to the cart driver so that he may pick up his brain. The horse tears off one of the hooligans’ head and holds it by the hair between its teeth. They leave. Botius meets a pregnant woman and an old man. The couple begins to make love. A child walks up tentatively. The horse comes back and devours the child. Botius asks it to eat him too, to put an end to his misery, but the horse goes away. He concludes that his soul must be difficult to digest.

String marionette

Not specified

Barker Howard

Great Britain

Brighton

Printed

Madness

Mutilation

Crucifixion

Violence

Suffering

Death

Satirical

Black comedy

English

Philosopher

Mistress

Lover (man)

Rogue

Driver

Prostitute

Carter

Horse

Pregnant woman

Old man

Baby

Scene of copulation

Scene of torture

Blind character

Caricature

Double characters

Character eating another character

All He Fears

The puppeteer apologises to the audience because he is not ready to perform Macbeth: instead, he will perform an unpublished comedy by Goldoni, The Jealous Emigrant (which is, in fact, a fake written on purpose by Brunello). But one of his glove puppets, Arlequin, disagrees and organises a rebellion, convincing the other puppets to perform Macbeth. The tragedy begins, but Arlequin, who has dared to step out of his role, must die like Macbeth. The same applies to his antagonist King Duncan, who - as we discover at the end - is no other than the puppeteer himself.

Glove-puppet

Bare hand

Actor and puppet

Adults

Brunello Gigio

Molnár Gyula (aka Giulio Molnár)

Italy

Mogliano Veneto

Rebellion

Self-consciousness of puppets

Rewriting

Adaptation

Fake unpublished

Shakespeare

Tragic

Ironic

Italian

Rodolfo

Colombina

Brighella

Lady Macbeth

Arlecchino

Macbeth

Pantaloon

Macduff

Balanzone

Generico

Witch

Messenger

Guardian

Sicaire

Monkey

Comical regional accent

Theatre within the theatre

Address to the public

Rehearsal (play within a play)

Apparition of the puppeteer

Surprise effect

Captatio benevolentiae

Tragic irony

Tragic conflict

Parody of formal language

Avista

Macbeth all'improvviso

Improvised Macbeth