Guignol tries to sell a bundle of little sticks carried by his donkey. The barber Pommadin tries to negotiate the price, but Guignol refuses. Pommadin ends the deal and pays the price required by Guignol, but he requests everything that the donkey carries. Guignol agrees, but Pommadin takes the stick that was holding everything together. Guignol complains to the burgomaster, but he sides with Pommadin. Guignol goes to Pommadin’s barber shop and asks for him and one of his friends to be shaved, reassuring Pommadin that he will pay for both of them in advance. Pommadin takes the money, and Guignol comes back with his donkey and forces Pommadin to shave it. The burgomaster is called again, but this time, he sides with Guignol. Pommadin wants the donkey out of his shop and thus has to reimburse and compensate Guignol. An Apothicaire (Apothecary) sells Guignol a remedy that will make his donkey obedient. A Marchande (Female Merchant), Marie, complains to Guignol that the donkey destroyed her crystal and porcelain shop, and they argue. Guignol and Niafron run away to go and have lunch together out of the city.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Mourguet Laurent

France

Lyon

Printed

Donkey

Beard

Trade

Judgment

Deceived deceiver

Comical

Farcical

Le Marchand de picarlats (Vuillerme-Dunant's manuscript), Fonds Léopold Dor.

French

Le Marchand de génevottes; Le Marchand de fagots; Le Marchand de cotrets.

Guignol

coiffeur

Bourgmestre

Apothecary

Merchant (woman)

Monologue

Dialect as a social marker

Comic distortion of language

Deceived naivety

Misunderstanding

Fight with an animal

Plot twist

Le Marchand de picarlats

The picarlats Merchant

The doorman Gnafron makes the cook Fifine believe that they have to cut a piece of the tail of their master’s cat: this way, Gnafron is hoping to enjoy the leftovers usually eaten by the cat. Guignol comes back from the cellar with a bottle of wine that he wants to share with Gnafron. In a clumsy movement, Fifine cuts the entire tail of the cat, who ends up on Guignol’s head. Picot, their master, discovers everything and is about to punish the three of them, but they manage to convince him that what they did was good.

Josserand Claude Louis François (aka Louis Josserand père)

Manuscript

Glutton

Cruelty to an animal

Wine

Servant

Cure

Gnafron

Address to the public

Hidden character

Final song

Blow-with-a-stick

La Queue du chat

The Cat's Tail

Luigi Gambara and Maria da Brescia are happily married. The villain Alvise takes advantage of Luigi’s absence to try and seduce Maria. Faggiolino, the servant in Luigi’s house, notices the situation, and when Luigi comes back, he warns him. Luigi discovers Alvise in his wife Maria’s bedroom as he is talking to her about love. Alvise challenges him to a duel, but he is wounded and flees, promising to take revenge. After making sure of Maria’s innocence, Luigi decides to take her far away from Brescia, so that she can find protection in Venice. Alvise gets ahead of them and goes to meet the Inquisitor to accuse Luigi of wanting to commit an attack against the Venetian Republic. Luigi is imprisoned and sentenced to death, but his servant Faggiolino provides him with the necessary money to bribe the guard Brighella; he then waits for him in a gondola under the Bridge of Sighs to help him escape. Luigi takes revenge on Alvise and kills him. As he is about to kill Maria, his daughter arrives and prevents him from doing so.

Cuccoli Angelo

Italy

Bologna

Printed summary

Unrequited love

Lust

Duel

Venice

Revenge

Dramatic

Italian

Luigi Gambara

Fagiolino

Meneghino

Brighella

Balanzone

Soldier

Trap

Running away

Murder on stage

Love story

Duel scene

Court scene

Seduction scene

Domestic scene

Arrest scene

Maria la bresciana e Luigi Gambara con Faggiolino detto il bravo della Lombardia

Maria the Brescian and Luigi Gambara with Faggiolino known as the brave of Lombardy

Arlecchino, a shopkeeper from Bergamo, travels to Venice to marry Angiola, Pantalone’s daughter. During the journey, as he is sleeping in a shed, he is robbed and caught in a fire. He loses both the money and the paperwork needed for the wedding. Pantalone discusses with Tartaglia who asks him if his son Florindo could marry Angiola, but Pantalone says that she is already betrothed to Arlecchino. Tartaglia repeats this to Florindo, who is still determined to marry Angiola. He asks Faccanapa for help. Faccanapa intercepts Arlecchino and, using various ploys, diverts him from Pantalone’s and Angiola’s house. He is first awarded the token of recognition that was meant for Pantalone, then, he shows Arlecchino the asylum and says that he has to go there; he then makes him believe that his betrothed is an ill beggar; he then seizes Arlecchino’s ring so as to sell it and tells him that, in order to get the money, he has to go to the prison. Finally, he has him arrested for possessing a weapon, which was hidden in his bag by Faccanapa, and he makes him bribe the guards to be freed. To pull it all off, Faccapana introduces himself under a new name every time, and tells Arlecchino that, even though he looks like the wrongdoer who has just tricked him, he is just someone who wants to help him. Arlecchino believes him every time. As all of this happens, Florindo convinces Pantalone that he is Arlecchino, and marries Angiola. In the end, Faccanapa puts Arlecchino in a bag to get rid of him once and for all. However, Pantalone realises that something is wrong, and a free Arlecchino tells his version of the story. Florindo and Faccanapa explain that they did all of this to defend the love between Angiola and Florindo. Pantalone decides to solve the problem, and make Arlecchino marry his daughter’s servant, Colombina, with whom Faccanapa is in love; Florindo will find him another wife.

String marionette

All audiences

Wedding

Love

Deception

Le disgrazie de Arlechin, ed. Chiopris.

Venetian

Pantaloon

Young woman

Fiancée

Young man

Lover

Father

Colombina

Maid

Arlecchino

Facanapa

Innkeeper

Thief

Old woman

Mendiante

Constable

Aside

Word warping

Comic stuttering

Confinement

Le disgrazie de Arlechin

The misfortunes of Harlequin

Martin is a man who wins every game he plays. This evening, he is preparing for his greatest gamble yet: abandoning his lover Sophie in order to go to Homburg and seduce the scandalous courtesan Eleonora Lambriani. However, his cousin, the blustering soldier Cassian, visits him; soon, the tide turns. Sophie falls in love with Cassian, Martin starts to lose at dice and is then mortally wounded by his cousin in the ensuing fight. Cassian abandons Sophie to meet with Eleonora Lambriani. Sophie jumps out of the window, but Cassian follows her and miraculously saves her; they set off for Homburg. Martin finally dies, having lost everything…

Schnitzler Arthur

Austria

Vienna

Germany

Berlin

Visit

Unfaithfulness

Dice game

Death

Journey

Loyalty in love

Sadness

Nostalgia

Seduction

Encounter

Temptation

Confession

Poverty

Luck

Battle story

Suicide attempt

Femme fatale

Burlesque

Parodistic

German

Der tapfere Kassian

Puppenspiel in einem Akt

Valet

Argument

Teichoscopy

Der tapfere Cassian

The brave Cassian

The comet Halifax 712 is approaching Earth. In the absence of the astronomer, Kasperl, his assistant, makes a journalist believe that a collision is imminent. Sensationalist press spreads panic. Kasperl denounces the selfishness of the Minister, who only thinks about himself. He also mocks people for stupidly believing in what the newspapers say, hires a telescope from a passer-by in order to get a closer look at the comet and suggests ridiculous measures (spraying water towards the comet, sending a spaceship). As the comet approaches, Kasperl disguises as a Capuchin monk and hears the confessions of the Minister as well as those of the journalist and of a salted meat master. When they want to bring their wealth in order to redeem themselves from their wrongdoings, they realize that the comet has drawn away, but Kasperl explains to them that their belongings and their superstition will be the subject of many other plays.

Young audiences

Maticka Adolf

Science fiction

Disaster

Astronomy

Telescope

Panic

Sensational

Press

Credulity

Ignorance

Comet

Politics

Media

Enrichment

Satirical

Front page of Rote Kasper-Texte

Ein Handpuppenspiel in 3 Akten

Kasperl

Teacher

Journalist

Pork butcher

Change of social status

Disguise

Song

Hidden Object Lazzi

Der Komet

The Comet

A very big and very strong ogre terrifies an entire village. As the ogre sleeps, digesting a cow he has eaten, the inhabitants leap at the chance to tie him down. When he wakes up, they tell him they will not free him unless he does something useful, such as cleaning all the houses’ chimneys and blowing on some clouds so that it rains. Once the ogre has accomplished these tasks, the villagers have him believe that another ogre claims to be stronger than he is. The ogre goes into the mountains to challenge his rival. Because of the echo of his screams, he keeps thinking that his rival always is further and further away, so much so that he never comes back to the village.

Shadow theatre

Lanuza Empar de

Spain

Valencia

Tale

Village

Mountain

Theatre at school

Echo

Didactic

Fantasy

Catalan

Ogre

Comic equivocation

Sound effects

Talking animal

L'ogre espantatotsitotes

The ogre thatscareseveryone

Teste calde tells the story of patriot Angelo Pradman, a baker who defends Fort Marghera against the Austrian invasion in 1848. He is engaged to the young Teresa, housekeeper to the Austrian baroness, the wife of the Austrian general Standeiskj. Pradman is also a lover of the Baroness herself, and meets her at her home every Thursday evening. The patriot Moser entrusts him with a very delicate mission: to sneak into General Standeiskj's house and get some rifles. Pradman tells Moser that it will be very easy for him, as he has free access to the Baroness's house. Teresa has heard everything and decides to take revenge: she sends a letter to the baroness in which she tells her that her lover, the baker, is talking to everyone about their love affair. The Baroness, in response, sends the General an anonymous letter informing him that Pradman will attempt to enter his home the following Thursday. The mission turns into a massacre: four of Pradman's comrades are killed in Standeiskj’s garden. Only Pradman manages to save himself, but for this he will be killed by his comrades who take him for a traitor. A few years later, another patriot, this time a true double agent, would have a successful career in the kingdom of Italy.