Polichinelle and Pierrot rob a vegetable garden every night. The gardener sets up scarecrows. At first, the thieves tremble with fear and give up their loot before they discover the trickery. Then they put on the scarecrows' clothes to scare and hit the Gardener. The Gardener runs away, but he has recognised Pierrot and Polichinelle. He returns disguised as a ghost, but Pierrot and Polichinelle are not fooled and hit him again. When the Gardener wants to prevent Polichinelle from escaping, Polichinelle plants him in a pot with Pierrot's help. The wife frees her husband. They both fill a melon with powder and a wick. Pierrot and Polichinelle, mistaking the wick for a cigar, light it. The explosion sends Polichinelle and Pierrot flying out of the garden, but causes the house to collapse on the Gardener and his wife.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

Printed

Garden

Theft

Vegetables

Scarecrow

Phantom

Fear

Hoax

Rake

Firecracker

Blast

Melon

Trap

Farcical

French

Gardener

Polichinelle

Pierrot

Gardener (woman)

Hidden character

Misunderstanding

Disguise

Plot twist

Blow-with-a-stick

Pyrotechnics

Explosion

Collapse of the set

Le Revenant

The Ghost

The king's daughter is to be married, but she will only marry a man who is both rich and intelligent. Known for his wit, Arlequin arrives at the palace, only to be beaten back with a stick by the Swiss guard at the entrance. Desperate, he confides his misadventure to a beggar, who suggests that he should become rich by setting up a business in beating people with sticks. Arlequin decides to do so. The customers, who come in great numbers, make his fortune. But Arlequin, increasingly revolted by their wickedness, ends up beating his customers with a stick. Rich enough and threatened with hanging by the Commissaire, he gives his business to Pierrot for free. Pierrot hangs the Commissaire, who has come to hang him, and comes to ask Arlequin for an explanation. Thanks to his wealth and wit, Arlequin is able to marry the princess and have Pierrot appointed as the new Commissaire.

Wealth

Witty man

Trade

Wickedness

Revenge

Discord

Scruples

Satirical

Comical

Arlecchino

Swiss

Beggar

Peasant

Cassandre

Cassandra

Apothecary

Constable

Police Superintendant

King

Herald

Hanging scene

Aside

Le Marchand de coups de bâton

Merchant of blows-with-a-stick

Polichinelle stole a wizard's picnic and beat him up. The wizard made a giant hand appear. Chased by the hand, Polichinelle runned into an old woman's house. To get him out, the Hand trapped him with a smelly pâté. Feigning repentance, Polichinelle asked the wizard to free him from the Hand, then killed him and tried to control the Hand. But it threatened him with a pitchfork and carried him away like the Devil would do.

Bare hand

Hand

The Devil's Hand

Hunger

Thirst

Wine

Sorcery

Pâté

Cunning

False repentance

Fantastic

Magician

Old woman

Part of human body

Devil

Monologue

Song

Chase

Magical formula

Hands visible

Address to the public

Thumbing one's nose

Slaps

Punching

Off-stage voice

Final intervention of the devil

La Grand'Main

The Big Hand

Fleeing his wife, Polichinelle steals a charlatan's cabriolet with Pierrot. First he wins the trust of the population with free advice, then he launches a subscription for a phantom financial company. When the shareholders demand their money, he sends them away with good words and blows, until the Public itself comes to threaten him directly. Mrs. Polichinelle offers to take care of the punishment. Terrified, Polichinelle flees into the forest. Abandoned by Pierrot, he walks to Hell. There, he tries to swindle Death and stands up to the Devil who, in desperation, goes looking for Mrs. Polichinelle. She brings her husband home firmly, with the approval of the audience.

Swindling

Hell

Marriage hell

Punishment

Forest

Public

Perseverance in Evil

Money

Capitalism

Bossy woman

Escape

Ironic

Le Charlatan

Charlatan

Crook

Tenant

Lady

Shopkeeper

Colombine

Valet

Death

Intervention of the audience

Apparition of the Devil

Appearence of Death

L'Homme au cabriolet

the man with a cabriolet

Captain Caricknagat, heading a ship of pirates, beats and expels Joe Miles since he made a move on his wife. Miles promises vengeance. The Captain and his team disembark on the shore of an island to find fresh water. They are attacked by its inhabitants. Captain asks a part of his troupes to bring his wife, 'The Lolita,' to his ship while he fights with the natives. Upon return to the ship, however, she is nowhere to be found, and the majority of his men have perished in the battle. Two days later, James Broad, the boatswain, returns. He has escaped and carries a message that The Lolita etched into a piece of tree bark. She writes that her body will be burnt and her head hung at the entrance of a cave. She asks her husband to recover her head, to put it in a box, and to bury it once back on their island (The Isle of Plumes). The Captain sends the last of his men to retrieve the remains of his wife, but it's a fluke, and only the Captain and James survive. The two pirates wait for nightfall to finally steal back the skull and the vessel before returning home. James dies of thirst as Captain nears the shore. Joe Miles, who is waiting for Captain on the island since being expelled from the ship, kills him for vengeance and steals his treasure. When he opens the chest, however, he finds only a severed head.

Toy theatre

Young audiences

Ireland

Strete

Piracy

Last will

Boat

Relic

Black comedy

Humorous

Dramatic

Jack B. Yeats, The Scourge of the Gulph, 1911.

English

Or Fierce Revenge

Captain

Pirate

Wife

Narrator

Gunshot

Murder on stage

Wandering

The Scourge of The Gulph

Le Fouet du Golfe

Martin is secretly in love with the beautiful Eleonora Lambriani, a mysterious dancer with a legendary reputation. However, he has already sworn his love to Sophie. When Martin prepares to leave in order to offer his life and his money to Eleonora, his cousin Cassian arrives at his house. Initially inconsolable because of the departure of her lover, Sophie changes from the virtuous girl to the woman expressing her desire for Cassian, then she elopes with him by jumping out of the window. Martin dies by the hand of Cassian, poor as a church mouse, as he has lost all his money in a dice game against Cassian.

Not specified

Schnitzler Arthur

Austria

Vienna

Germany

Berlin

Visit

Unfaithfulness

Dice game

Journey

Loyalty in love

Sadness

Nostalgia

Seduction

Encounter

Temptation

Confession

Lust

Poverty

Luck

Deception

Battle story

Duel

Suicide attempt

Femme fatale

Burlesque

Parodistic

German

Der tapfere Kassian

Puppenspiel in einem Akt

Domestic scene

Argument

Love story

Deceived naivety

Teichoscopy

Der tapfere Cassian

The brave Cassian

Esteban is the owner of a farm. He has a male servant, Silvestre, and a female servant, Oliva, who is also his mistress. Oliva really loves her master and she serves him so well that Esteban is thinking about marrying her. But he is wondering if Oliva really loves him or if she is after his belongings, so he explains to Silvestre the stratagem that he has planned to deploy in order to put her to the test: he will pretend that he has lost all of his possessions, and then fake his own death. Silvestre, in the presence of the supposed body, will have to feign love for Oliva in order to test her faithfulness. Esteban puts his plan into action. Thanks to the help of a fake doctor, Esteban pretends to die. Silvestre tells Oliva how he feels about her as planned, but his feelings are in fact true and he had always concealed them. Oliva faints, Silvestre carries her in his arms and the two of them run away from the house. Esteban sits up on his death bed and, taken aback by the revelation of truth, he actually dies of syncope.

Spain

Madrid

Fainting

Love

Farm

Corpse

Travelling theatre

False doctor

Tragic

Spanish

Farmer

Servant

Maid

Peddler

Fake death

Death on stage

Curiosa muerte burlada

The Strange Duped Death

The Wiseman Weitschuss has built a rocket to go to Mars. When Kasperl messes with the buttons, he accidentally causes the rocket to take off. He arrives on the red planet, where he teaches German to Martian Zweikopf, who brings him before the king. The latter wants to inspect the rocket and, pushing the wrong button, flies to Earth. The king is treated as an exotic creature and is exhibited at the zoo while the rocket returns to Mars. Kasperl escapes the vengeance of the Martians and returns to his parents.