Hanswurst is thrown out like trash from the stage of the Berlin theatre following the success of Voltaire’s tragedy Alzire. He is exiled to Salzbourg, where he lodges at Stoffel Knips’ house and seduces his host’s wife. Stoffel Knips catches them in the act and throws them out. Hanswurst’s distress is such that he tries to kill himself. But thunder strikes the branch on which he was hanging. Two Turks pass by the unconscious couple and take them aboard their felucca going to Turkey. During the trip, Madame Knips gives birth to two children – a boy and a girl – who grow extremely fast. In Turkey, Hanswurst is castrated to be made a eunuch in the Sultan’s seraglio. Madame Knips fell in the sea with her son during the trip, but she manages to swim to shore. She competes with her daughter for the Sultan’s favours; Hanswurst takes offence and makes a scene. He is banished by the Sultan as a result, and returns to Berlin, where he meets a prostitute. He recognizes one of the brothel’s clients as his own son, who also escaped drowning and became a pedant professor of philosophy. During a lecture he gives on the German almanac Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, published by Friedrich Christoph Nicolai, all the characters on stage die from atrocious diarrhoea.

Not specified

Schink Johann Friedrich

Germany

Berlin

Printed

Turkey

Sultan

Seraglio

Unfaithfulness

Prostitution

Suicide

Education

Literary criticism

Sturm und Drang

Genie

Adventure

Navigation

Human castration

Mutilation

Childbirth

Storm

Tempest

Scatology

Colic

Fart

Fornication

Triviality

Obscenity

Satirical

Anonymous illustration on the title page of Johann Friedrich Schink's collection Marionettentheater

German

Hanswurst

Madame Knips

Turk

Sailor

Daughter

Physician

Slave

Lady

Old woman

Prompter (theatre)

Scene of recognition

Bawdy equivocation

Splitting of the body

Prologue

Address to the public

Love story

Hanging scene

Play in verse

Epilogue

Unexpected turn of events

Brothel scene

Foul language register

Allusion to current literary events

Hanswurst von Salzburg mit dem hölzernen Gat

Hanswurst of Salzbourg with the wooden arse

Kasperl leaves for America on a boat, but is swallowed by a whale that spits him out on an island inhabited by cannibals. They salt him and smear him in whale fat. Attracted by the smell of fat, an eagle kidnaps Kasperl on the verge of being eaten and takes him back to Europe. Kasperl manages to escape and meets a horseman who takes him back to his family. The play ends as a prologue with an invitation to take a seat in front of the puppet theatre for the start of the main performance.

Shadow theatre

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Boat

Navy

America

Shipwreck

Fish

Leviathan

Unknown land

Island

Sausage

Beer

Thirst

Hunger

Cannibalism

Savage

Kidnapping

Horse

Family

Fantasy

Comical

Kasperl

Baleine

Cannibal

Eagle

Horserider

Madame Kasperl

Child

Monologue

Chorus

Sung scenes

Macaronism

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Kasperl bei den Menschenfressern

Kasperl among the anthropophagi

Mr. Casperl, a wealthy man of private income, has an appointment with Lieutenant Säbelmaier and the wife of the secretary Federspitzen for an excursion to Lake Starnberg near Munich, but his barber comes too late and he has to leave in a hurry to catch his train, which had been announced late. In the second part of the play, the boat of the three excursionists is wrecked by a sudden storm on the lake. Säbelmaier and Mrs. Federspitzen probably managed to save themselves. Casperl has been living like Robinson for eight days in a deserted forest by the lake. He finally meets a sheep with whom he can talk about philosophy, because it is in fact the reincarnation of a professor and living proof of the truth of metempsychosis. But they argue and the sheep flees in the face of another coming storm. A hunter then finds Casperl passed out and wants to bring him to justice as a poacher, but ends up recognising him as the man who disappeared eight days ago, and Casperl concludes by recommending that the audience take the steamboat instead.

String marionette

Manuscript

Train

Railway

Train station

Independently wealthy person

Military

Secretary

Civil servant

Bourgeoisie

Barber

Robinson

Lamb

Sheep

Professor

Metempsychosis

Reincarnation

Philosophy

Hinduism

Pantheism

Poacher

Loneliness

Parodistic

Burlesque

Humorous

Die Parthie nach Starnberg; Herr Casperl als Robinson

Die Parthie nach Starnberg

Lieutenant

Hunter

Dream

Talking animal

Criticism of actors' theatre

Off-stage voice

Aria

Argument

Caricature

Philosophical dialogue

Casperl als Robinsohn

Casperl as Robinson

Berlingue asks his wife to keep his travel trunk during his day of absence. The wife, jealous that the trunk receives more attention than she does, takes advantage of his absence to go party with Arlequin. After an unfortunate blow of the stick from Arlequin, Mme Berlingue drops dead. Arlequin hides her corpse in the trunk, makes the husband’s doubts vanish, and gets rid of the Apothicaire (Apothecary) who had come to visit him. On his way to the boulangerie, where he is planning to destroy the corpse by putting it in the oven, he encounters Pierrot who steals the trunk and discovers the body. Pierrot sells the trunk to a merchant who sells it back to Arlequin, who wants the merchant to take it back. The merchant’s screams alert the Gendarme (Constable) who arrests Arlequin and wants to hang him. Arlequin runs away and pushes the Gendarme (who gets run over): the trunk opens in the impact and brings Mme Berlingue back to life. As the merchant claims ownership of the trunk, Mme Berlingue goes back home to relate everything to her husband. The Commissaire (Superintendent) arrives and, in disbelief of the merchant’s tale, requisitions the trunk. Berlingue arrives and wants his trunk back. The Commissaire accuses him of murdering the Gendarme and wants to hang him. The Gendarme comes back to life. Mme Berlingue convinces the Gendarme to un-hang her husband and to take his place. When the Commissaire returns, he finds the Gendarme hanged but still alive; they both abandon any hanging plans, for no one was murdered.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Trunk

Silliness

Trade

Corpse

Resurrection

Accidental murder

Error

Farcical

Duranty, illustration for "La Malle de Berlingue" (Théâtre des marionnettes du Jardin des Tuileries, 1862)

French

Arlecchino

Apothecary

Pierrot

Constable

Police Superintendant

Spectacular turn of events

Hidden corpse

Fake death

Death on stage

Blow-with-a-stick

Misunderstanding

La Malle de Berlingue

Berlingue's Trunk

With the hope of finding some gold, Pierrot and Polichinelle break into the Sorcier’s (Sorcerer) house, but they are caught by a Poule noire (Black Hen) that attacks them. Polichinelle runs away with the Poule, but Pierrot, trapped, hides in a cauldron. Panicked, the Sorcier calls his colleagues for help, and they all try to bring the Poule back using a potion prepared in the cauldron. Pierrot moves around in the cauldron (which makes the Sorciers run away) and uncovers himself. To punish him, the Sorcier turns his head into that of a donkey. Meanwhile, Polichinelle is starving and kills the Poule, making it disappear: the Diable (Devil) appears in its stead. To punish Polichinelle, the Diable gives him the head of a red donkey. Polichinelle and Pierrot come back and threaten the Sorcier into giving them their appearance back; the Sorcier tells them that he lost his powers when he lost his Poule. Pierrot searches through the Sorcier’s potions and finds a cream that gives him his head back. However, the Sorcier runs away with the cream, chased by Pierrot. A Cocher (Coachman) arrives, thinks that Polichinelle is gorgeous, whips him and wants to hitch him to his cart. Polichinelle defends himself with his stick and the Cocher runs away. Desperate to get his head back, Polichinelle tries another one of the Sorcier’s creams, but his head turns into that of a pig. A Charcutier (Pork butcher) sees Polichinelle and is in awe of the talking pig; Polichinelle thinks that he is insane and chases him away with his stick. Pierrot comes back with the remedy, and Polichinelle gets his real head back. Polichinelle leaves with Pierrot and encounters the Sorcier: he kills him with a single blow of a stick.

Sorcery

Naivety

Cauldron

Donkey

Fantastic

Magician

Sorcerer

Polichinelle

Devil

Coachman

Pork butcher

Metamorphosis

Apparition of the Devil

Chase

Hidden character

Dance

Running gag

Whiplash

Disappearance

Characterisation through onomatopoeia

La Poule noire

The Black Hen

The Emperor is moved by the sadness of Guerrino il Meschino, who learnt about his origins through the perfidious Brunoro: when he was an infant, some privateers took him away from his parents, who were left at the mercy of the waves. The Emperor convokes an Enchanter who reveals to Guerrino that he must go to the Trees of the Sun in order to find his parents. He leaves with his squires, Faggiolino and Giuppino. The journey is not easy and Guerrino has to overcome many obstacles, such as the encounter with a cannibal whom he manages to kill. Once he has arrived at the Trees of the Sun, Guerrino manages to communicate with the Oracle of the Sun, whose voice tells him about his noble origins and explains that, in order to find his parents, who are still alive, he needs to head west. Guerrino and his squires are helped by the Solitario (“Solitary”), who tells them to find the fairy Alcina. There, Guerrino risks being caught in her net: Alcina does everything she can to seduce him and make him stay forever in her enchanted garden. But Guerrino comes back to his senses, threatens her with his sword, and she transforms into a statue. Alcina’s statue reveals that Guerrino’s parents are living in prison, in a state of famine. Guerrino resumes his journey and finally arrives at Taranto, where he helps his cousin Antinisca, Queen of Taranto, fight the villainous Saracen prince, Nadar. It is he who has usurped the throne of Durazzo, stealing it from Milone, Guerrino’s father, and who has separated the prince from his parents. Antinisca and Guerrino fall in love. The Queen gives Guerrino permission to search Taranto’s prisons for his parents, and to free them if he finds them, which he does. When Nadar learns about it, he abducts Guerrino’s parents again. Guerrino, with the help of his friend Alessandro, attacks Durazzo and finally manages to kill Nadar. The kingdom is handed over to Milone, and everyone joyfully celebrates the wedding of Guerrino and Antinisca.

Cuccoli Angelo

Italy

Bologna

Handwritten summary

Foundling

Filiation

Quest

Journey

Love

Power

Fairy

Epic

Italian

Guerrino detto il Meschino Agl'alberi del Sole Alla grotta della Fata Alcina Con Faggiolino suo scudiero

Guerrino Meschino