Polichinelle tells his Compère (Companion) that he has come into a private income and wishes to host a ball, but Compère explains that this income will barely be enough to buy a candle. A Turk arrives and gives sumptuous Grand Turk clothes to Polichinelle as well as the key to his seraglio. Polichinelle joins the women of the seraglio, his Compère sings a song and the play ends with a group of shepherds and shepherdesses dancing.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

France

Paris

Manuscript

Enrichment

Foreigner

Ball

Money

Seraglio

Ballet

Comical

French

Polichinelle

The Interpreter

Turk

Sheperherdess

Change of social status

Final song

Dialogue with a character in the audience

Polichinelle Grand-Turc

Polichinelle Grand Turk

Polichinelle discovers that the theaters have been demolished. He has ordered a carpenter to make him new puppets but has no play to perform. The author Flonflon asks to be paid in advance, and Polichinelle beats him. Then four spectators come to see Polichinelle. The Compère (stooge) advises him to present a very short play. Polichinelle announces that he has two plot ideas: the relocation of the Comédie-Italienne and the wedding of the fairy Carabosse with Polichinelle. The play ends with a dance and a farce.

Carolet Denis

Printed

Life of the theatres

Playwright

Spectator

Relocation

Fair

Satirical

Author

Nurse

Mitron

Maid

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Dance

Blow-with-a-stick

Bawdy equivocation

L'Impromptu de Polichinelle

The Impromptu of Polichinelle

Atys (Attis) tells his cousin Sangaride that she is going to marry the prince Célénus (Celænus); then they both confess their love for each other. Having fallen in love with Atys, the goddess Cybèle (Cybele) declares her love to him in a dream. Believing that Atys is unfaithful, Sangaride agrees to marry Célénus. Atys opposes the marriage and flees with Sangaride. To punish Atys, Cybèle commands Esculape (Asclepius) and his apothecaries to drive him insane. Blinded by madness, Atys kills Sangaride. When he realises his crime, Atys begs Cybèle to bring Sangaride back to life, which she does, but changing the young woman into a hen, and Atys into a capon.

Fuzelier Louis

Opera

Love

Wedding

Jealousy

Revenge

Death

Death resurrected

Greek mythology

Capon

Grandparents

Ovid

Parodistic

La Grand-Mère amoureuse, frontispiece in Le Théâtre de la Foire ou l'Opéra comique, tome VIII, 1731.

Parodie d'Atys

Attis

Sangaride

Idas

Cybele

Rhea

Phrygian (man)

Priest

River

God of Sleep

Morpheus

Dreams

Asclepius

Apothecary

Phrygian (woman)

Tributaries

Stream

Instrumental tune

Metamorphosis

Love rivalry

Flying machine

Sung scenes

Dream

La Grand-Mère amoureuse

The Grand-Mother in love

The Reine des Sylphes (queen of the Sylphs) declares her love to Polichinelle. The latter is taken into her palace in the air and praised by a Suivante (lady-in-waiting), a Comédien (comedian), a Poète (poet) and a Musicien (musician). Each provides opportunities to mock Parisian people’s immorality and idiosyncrasies. The Reine joins Polichinelle: together, they attend a divertissement danced by the Sylphes (Sylphs), and the final vaudeville.

Germanic mythology

Fairy

Parisian life

Immorality

Unfaithfulness

Fantasy

Manuscrit of Polichinelle roi des Sylphes (BnF, Ms Fr 9312).

Queen

Lady-in-waiting

Actor

Poet

Musician

Sylph

Invisible character

Off-stage voice

Dancing entertainment

Play with drawers

Aria

Polichinelle roi des Sylphes

Polichinelle king of the Sylphs

A Marchande (female merchant), in love with an employee of the shop (the Courtaud (Shorty)), believes that he is interested in her daughter. A Servante (female servant) arouses the jealousy of a Laquais (male servant). A drunk Musicien (male Musician) tells a Suisse (Swiss man) that his wife is unfaithful to him. Polichinelle tries to seduce a Grisette (Shop girl), meets a Peintre (male painter) who wanted to paint his portrait, and then joins a Troupe de Buveurs (a Group of Drinkers): they dance a divertissement and sing a vaudeville at the end of the play.

Seduction

Drunkenness

Wine

Cabaret

Valet

First page of the manuscript of Polichinelle à la guinguette de Vaugirard.

Merchant (woman)

Shop employee

Swiss

Grisette

Painter

Inn scene

Comical foreign accent

Love story

Conversation

Polichinelle à la guinguette de Vaugirard

Polichinelle at the guinguette of Vaugirard

Pierrot has just arrived in the Underworld after being hanged. Pluton (Pluto) tasks him with judging newcomers. Pythagore (Pythagoras), a Poète (Poet), a Financier, a Coquette, an Actrice d’Opéra (Opera Actress) and a Médecin (Doctor) go before him. Each is put in an unexpected group (the comedians for Pythagore, the false witnesses for the Poète, the coach drivers for the financier, etc.).

Printed summary

Hell

Judge

Judgment

Rivalry of theatres

Swindling

Medicine

Manuscrit of Pierrot arbitre (BnF, Ms Fr 9313).

Pierrot

Pluto

Pythagoras

Financier

Coquette

Actress

Physician

Surprise effect

Pierrot arbitre

Pierrot arbitrator

Polichinelle has enlisted as a soldier for six years. After arriving at the camp of the French army, outside Kehl, he is frightened and wants to go back to Paris. Sentenced to be hanged for deserting, he is pardoned because the garrison of the fortress has just surrendered.

Army

Deserter

Fear

Death penalty

Antimilitarism

Manuscrit of La Prise du fort de Kehl (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. fr. 9294)

Sergeant

Drum

Trumpet (military man/woman)

General

Hanging scene

La Prise du fort de Kehl

The Capture of the fortress of Kehl

The fisherman Colin finds a golden vase in his nets. The genie Elemaliga is imprisoned inside it. As a gesture of gratitude for having delivered him, Elemaliga bestows magical powers to Colin. With this magical help, Colin triumphs over his rival Philippe, recovers the fortune he should have inherited and marries Lisbette.

Body shadows

Marion de Salins Pierre

Fishing

Inheritance

L'Heureuse Pêche, cover page

Comédie pour les ombres à scènes changeantes

Fisherman

Peasant

Genie

Apparition of a genie

Disappearance

Song

L'Heureuse Pêche

The Happy Catch

Figaro argues with Suzanne, his wife, because he wants to open a puppet theater. He brings his ill daughter, Friquette, to Paris. She recovers thanks to Doctor Fluidas, a neighbor who accompanies her every day to magnetism sessions. She agrees to help her father in his new undertaking, while Suzanne refuses to be convinced. Friquette confesses to her father that she is in love with a young man. She is enamored with L’Enfumé (The Tricked One), a student physicist, whom she has not seen for four days. Upon L’Enfumé’s arrival in the city, Friquette blames him for his absence, but he explains that it is due to his preparation to fly in a balloon that has her name written on it in golden letters. Fluidas announces that doctors have forbidden his magnetism sessions because he is an impostor. After an accident with the balloon he was supposed to fly in, L’Enfumé is robbed of the money left from the subscription that he started for its construction. Figaro convinces everybody to join him in his puppet theater project.

Theatre

Magnetism

False doctor

Imposture

Gas balloon

Gascon

Flight

Scientific experimentation

E. D., Figaro, directeur de marionnettes, 1785.

Figaro

Physicist

Monologue

Argument

Comical regional accent

Revelation

Figaro, directeur de marionnettes

Figaro, puppet director

Rosalinde, dressed as a male student, enters Doctor Faust’s home and gives him a book of magical spells. As a consequence, Faust believes he is making a deal with the devil, but he is in fact the victim of a trick orchestrated by the young woman, who conspired with Faust’s houseboy – Hans Wurst. When Satan comes back at midnight, he tells Faust that he has no intention of keeping his promises, and that the poor man has sold his soul for nothing. And yet, he grants him a final trial, which could save him from Hell: Faust must resist the gorgeous Helen of Troy. But he gives in the moment that she appears to him. Rosalinde then reveals that she was both the devil and the beautiful Helen: it is to her that he has devoted his body and soul. The play ends with two weddings, as Rosalinde’s servant, Lisette, is Hans Wurst’s sweetheart.