Don Juan murders Don Pietro, who came running to his daughter Anna’s aid for a villain had tried to seduce her by night and, failing to do so, attempted to abduct her. In the following scene, Don Juan receives two successive visits. His servant Hans turns out the first visitor – a creditor asking for his money – while his master hides. Then a judge with a court clerk comes to investigate the death of Don Pietro. Don Juan pretends to be someone else. He then undertakes to leave town incognito by changing clothes with Hans, who boasts about his new role as the master. As the judge nearly recognises them, Don Juan kills him. The two fugitives reach the cemetery, where Don Juan asks Hans to invite Don Pietro’s statue. The ghost agrees and comes over. Don Juan refuses to repent. Hans, to whom the ghost assured there was nothing to fear, follow them to the cemetery out of curiosity, and he sees his master walk into hell.

Not specified

Austria

Innsbruck

Printed

Assassination

Murder

Deaf

Creditor

Debt

Seduction

Abduction

Hell

Fart

Judge

Judgment

Laziness

Comical

German

Innsbrucker Don Juan

Don Juan

Hanswurst

Don Pietro

Anna

Domestic servant

Debtor

Clerk

Bourgeois

Serf

Soldier

Ghost

Devil

Misunderstanding

Disguise

Role reversal

Running gag

Word for another

Comical regional accent

Murder on stage

Political allegory

Play in verse

Running away

Replacement of one character by another

Having graduated from the University of Heidelberg, Anselme has become an assistant at old Hans’s toyshop, in Nuremberg, in order to grow closer to his employer’s daughter, Wilhelmine, whom he secretly loves. The son of the adviser Paykul also courts her. The Jew Mardochée sells them dolls which look like little women sleeping, and he says that they come from the Moon. In the evening, when Anselme is alone, Queen Lunaria and her companions wake up and tell him that they have come from the Moon. Anselme protects them from the monster Angramanyou, genie of underground fire, by delivering toys to him instead. Spiders threaten the women of the Moon, then different objects (household utensils, balloons) become animated, introduce themselves one after the other and dance. Anselme confesses his love to Lunaria, who grows and reveals herself to be Wilhelmine, the two women having been mistaken for one another in a dream. With Hans’s permission, Anselme and Wilhelmine decide to get married.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Maurice Sand (Maurice Sand)

France

Nohant

Moon

Dream

Impossible love

Doll

Genie

Sleep

Shyness

Fantasy

Fantastic

Frontispiece for the volume containing the play Jouets et Mystères