Janbroche – a cloth merchant – forbids his daughter from selling anything while she keeps the shop in his absence. To all questions, she will have to answer “really, Mister, nay”. Polichinelle, sent by his master the Marquis to place an order for a suit, takes advantage of this repeated response to take her to bed with him. When he comes back, the merchant Jambroche finds her with Polichinelle and forces her to leave the house without her breeches (“culotte” – an article of clothing covering the body from the waist down to the knees). The Marquis demands that Polichinelle marry the young woman.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

France

Paris

Printed

Seduction

Sexual intercourse

Obedience

Ridiculous

Trade

Deception

Farcical

Comical

French

Cloth merchant

The Interpreter

Pierrot

Polichinelle

Dancer

Marquis

Misunderstanding

Trap

Ballet

Dialogue with a character in the audience

Le Marchand ridicule

The foolish Merchant

Guignol’s landlord – Vautour – complains about financial hardship, as his tenants do not pay the rent. He asks Guignol to settle the previous months of arrears, but Guignol ridicules him extensively and then refuses to pay. Gnafron helps Guignol get rid of Vautour. They both fear that Vautour will have Guignol’s furniture seized, and so they move it all before having a drink together.

Glove-puppet

Mourguet Laurent

Lyon

Rent

Debt

Scatology

Furniture

Le Déménagement de Guignol. Lyon: Elardin, 1876 (couverture).

arrangé par Louis Josserand

Guignol

Gnafron

Landlord

Monologue

Fight

Dialect as a social marker

Comic distortion of language

Final song

Le Déménagement de Guignol

Guignol’s Move

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

Naive character deceived

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

Wanting to enjoy a quiet dinner with his friends, Galimar gives his servants, Guignol and Cadet, five francs and permission to stay out until midnight, so they decide to go to a restaurant. Meanwhile, Fanchette and Gnafron recount the pranks Guignol has played on them: leaving a restaurant without paying the bill, and borrowing a watch only to pawn it. To get their own back, they decide to set a trap for him by leaving an abandoned baby in his care. But Galimar adopts the child and gives Guignol and Cadet a hundred francs to find a nanny for him. Fanchette and Gnafron force Guignol to pay them back.

Typewriting

Money

Adoption

Pawning

Restaurant

Inheritance

Child

Invitation

Swindling

Large family

Child abandonment

Le Poupon abandonné

L'enfant abandonné

Cadet

Fanchette

Baby

Plot twist

Les Mésaventures de Fanchette

The Misadventures of Fanchette. The abandoned child

In a prologue, the pirate Willie McGowan expresses his love for pillaging ships and their treasures. Yet he is weary of being assaulted by warships since the thieves generally attack in the morning when everyone is asleep. Many men die, and the pirates' only booty is a few bottles of rum. Thus, Willie decides to give up his ship and to return to his hometown to take up a less depressing occupation. Three years go by, and Willie leads a contented life. He works on a boat, the Gleaner, and is well-paid. The ship's owner, Old Henderson, asks him to accompany migrants who want to go to America. Willie refuses; the Gleaner, he believes, will sink after three days at sea. Old Henderson tries to convince him that if the ship sinks, he could return on a sailboat stored onboard. He would be paid a handsome sum as the migrants have already paid their fares. Willie again responds with a no as he does not want to deceive the passengers. Old Henderson accuses him of cowardice and no longer being the pirate he once was. Jessie Henderson, his daughter, encourages Willie to go after the money since she could not possibly marry a poor man. Old Henderson finally decides to make the crossing with his daughter; he dreamt he would find treasure in the old garden near the Point, and he interpreted this as a good omen. Willie digs in the spot Old Henderson described and finds the treasure. The master of the crew, Bosun Hardbite, announces that all have survived the sea journey, except Old Henderson and his daughter.

Toy theatre

Young audiences

Ireland

Strete

Wicklow

Piracy

Migrant

Treasure

Renunciation

Shipwreck

Ironic

Humorous

English

Willie McGowan / The Man Hunter of the Gulf

Pirate

Sailor

Emigrant

Daughter

Singer

Narrator

Song

The Treasure of the Garden

Le Trésor du jardin

A Unicorn crosses the stage with a forest in the background, saying “Honni soit qui mal y pense." Three men are looking at it and discussing the best way to catch it. One of them brought a sixty-year-old Virgin woman who wears a veil, as the Unicorn is attracted by purity. The Unicorn feels the presence of the Virgin, draws near her, and puts its head on her lap. The Virgin signals to the men to catch the animal, unveils, and uncovers her true identity - she is Britannia. The Unicorn feels betrayed and dies of sorrow. The Royal Coat of Arms is lowered, and the Unicorn is placed opposite to the roaring Lion. A butcher’s shop appears under the coat of arms, and the butcher can be seen chopping meat. A child rings at the shop, and the butcher’s son's voice can be heard alerting his mother.

String marionette

Craig Edward Gordon

Marina di Pisa

Purity

Virginity

Hunting

Royals

Monarchy

Patriotism

Coat of arms

Satirical

Fowler

Virgin

Unicorn

Butcher

Talking animal

Allegory

The Rape of the Unicorn

Le Viol de la licorne

Saint Peter comes down to earth to grant three people of his choice the fulfillment of three wishes each. The first, a blacksmith, wishes that anyone who climbs into his pear tree to steal his pears can no longer come down without his permission, that people can only enter his house to disturb him through the keyhole, and that his bag fills with everything he wants to have in it. Peterle, the young boy who assists him at the forge, wishes to see his parents again in paradise, to have health, and to always be in a cheerful mood. Kasperl, in turn, goes to see Saint Peter and obtains that three wishes be granted to him, but asks to consult with his wife Gretl beforehand. However, they are unable to agree. Gretl finally blurts out that she would like sausages, which immediately appear on the table. Out of spite, Kasperl wishes that the sausages hang from his nose, but then he can't get them off, tries to shoot them off with a pistol, and accidentally kills his wife. A policeman arrives, whom he murders by suffocating him in the box where the policeman discovered Gretl's body. When he is about to throw the boxinto the water, the devil emerges, resurrects his wife, and beats him up. Now it is the blacksmith's time to die. Death, with a nail through his skull, comes to see him. The blacksmith asks him to pick a pear for him before following him. Death climbs into the tree and cannot come down until he has promised the blacksmith never to come back to see him again. However, he touches young Peterle, who had laughed at seeing him in such an awkward position, and he enters paradise. Then Death sends the devil to torment the blacksmith, but the latter, in the company of Kasperl, catches him in a bag as he passes through the keyhole and giveshim a severe beating. To avenge the devil, Death waits for Kasperl outside, but he manages to nail his skull to a tree and only releases him on the condition that he leaves him alone from now on too. After theFirst World War, however, neither the blacksmith nor Kasperl have any more taste for life. However, they are refused entry to both Heaven and Hell. The blacksmith then throws his bag over the wall of paradise and wishes to be there himself: he thus deceives Saint Peter. Kasperl has one last wish: he asks for theresurrection of the policeman, so as not to have his death on his conscience any longer. Entry to paradise is finally granted to him, but after a few years of purgatory: he will haveto return to his wife.

Rokos August Franz

Czechia

Cheb

Smithy

Devotion

Wishes

Saints

Catholicism

Happiness

Beatitude

Sausage

Cold cuts

Knödel

Tavern

Heaven

Eternal punishment

Devil

Perlike

Police

Assassination

Feminicide

Hell

Children--Death

Beer

Vanity

Inflation

Fantasy

Burlesque

Grotesque

German

Nach einer alten Erzählung für das Kasperltheater bearbeitet

Saint Peter

Blacksmith

Kasperl

Mrs Kasperl

Death

Angel

Policeman

Word for another

Versified passages

Hidden corpse

Light effects

Apparition

Political allegory

Der Schmied von Jüterbock und sein Geselle Kasper

The Blacksmith of Jüterbock and his companion Kasper

Once again, Fagiolino borrows money from Polonia, Sandrone’s wife, and promises to pay her back as soon as he manages to marry Colombina, the niece of the wealthy Pantalone, and to collect her dowry. Meanwhile, Sandrone makes a deal to buy lands so that he won’t have to work for a landlord any longer. When he discovers that Polonia has taken money from his savings in order to lend it to Fagiolino, he beats her and swears to himself that he will do the same to Fagiolino. In the meantime, Bergnocla, a friend of Fagiolino, warns him that Arlecchino and Brighella are plotting against Pantalone: they have abducted Colombina in order to demand a ransom. While she is kept hidden in Brighella’s inn, they make Pantalone believe that it is the fearsome bandit Sebastian who has abducted her. Moreover, Arlecchino secretly wants to marry Colombina to obtain her dowry. Fagiolino, who is in love with Colombina, manages to foil Arlecchino’s plan: he intercepts Pantalone, who was headed to the bandit’s place with the money for the ransom, pretends to be the bandit himself and takes the money, so that it never falls into Arlecchino and Brighella’s hands. Those two are quarrelling because they each think that the other has betrayed them, and nobody suspects Fagiolino. They also think that the true bandit, Sebastian, is now angry with them because they have used his name for their own purposes. They beg Fagiolino to speak to the bandit and to talk some sense into him. Fagiolino accepts, in exchange for payment, and is delighted about the success of his plan. He pretends to have convinced the bandit to free Colombina and to leave Arlecchino and Brighella in peace. He finally goes to meet Pantalone so that he can be given credit for having convinced the bandit to free Colombina. Pantalone believes him and agrees to give him Colombina’s hand in marriage. Fagiolino goes back to Sandrone’s and pays him back the money he owed him.