Raggou, a French rogue, has been sentenced to death by hanging and is running away from the police. He meets another Frenchman, a puppeteer on his way to the Bristol Fair with his puppet booth. The runaway buys the booth and swaps his clothes with the puppeteer’s to trick his pursuers. When the two policemen ask if he has seen a French runaway, Raggou, dressed as a puppeteer, is forced to improvise a short performance. He then stages three acts, in which the king of Spain plays the bagpipes for his privy council while king Solomon is passing sentence; the queen of Swiveland and the Whore of Babylon vie to be the most lustful; the king of Norway and Denmark teaches the bishop of Munsera how to juggle. Flea-fint, a looter sentenced to death by hanging and pursued by the police, offers to buy Raggou’s puppet booth and to swap clothes with him. Raggou agrees and flees. Since he would not know how to stage a puppet play, Flea-fint comes up with a plan in case someone asked him to—the key is in Bristol, therefore he cannot open the booth. The true puppeteer comes back, accompanied by policemen. He asks Flea-Flint to give him back his possessions. Flea-flint is thus sentenced to death by hanging, but the policemen do not know how to hang him: instead, they plunder him and spare his life.

Curiosité

Not specified

Great Britain

London

Printed

Disguise

Foreign languages

Comical

Burlesque

John Lacy, The Old Troop; or, Monsieur Raggou, 1672 (front cover).

English

Prussian

King

Solomon

Queen

Prostitute

Bishop

Thief

Puppeteer

Constable

Song

Comic distortion of language

Running gag

Theatre within the theatre

Improvised scene

Current affairs

The Old Troop; or, Monsieur Raggou

The ambitious Doctor Faust begins learning black magic and makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles: he promises him his soul on condition that the latter agrees to serve him. Faust goes to Parma with Mephistopheles and his houseboy Hans Wurst. The houseboy was asked to keep the identity of his master secret, but he gives it away to the duke of Parma as soon as he arrives there. Faust makes several spectacular natural phenomena appear before the duke (Mount Etna erupting, a sea tempest) but the duke’s courtiers hate him for showing the duke their true nature. Faust is forced to flee. Although Hans Wurst is dismissed, he finds refuge with Wagner, Faust’s servant. Mephistopheles eventually secures Faust’s soul by making Helen of Troy fall in love with him. He also shows him that his generosity will not save him, because its benefits also had harmful effects on his protégés. Faust understands that he is damned, takes leave of Hans Wurst and Wagner, and hands himself over to Hell when midnight strikes.

Germany

Augsburg

Scholar

Wittenberg

Necromancy

Sorcery

Vice

Cheekiness

Nature

Navy

Brokers

Scatology

Crucifix

Hell

Eternal punishment

Vanity

Tragic

First page of the play in Johann Scheible's edition, Das Kloster, 1847

German

Ein Trauerspiel in 3 Theilen und 9 Aufzügen. (Vom Augsburger Puppentheater.)

Faust

Genie

Guardian angel

Satan

Christoph Wagner

Hanswurst

Mephistopheles

Devil

Duke of Parma

Helen of Troy

Monologue

Dilemma

Instrumental tune

Board

Lazzi

Word for another

Repetition of a word

Apparition

Pact with the devil

Bawdy equivocation

Flying machine

Diorama

Versified passages

Johann Faust

Heriwolf, son of the woodland fairy Waldminne, is forcing his attentions on Rotkäppchen (Little Red Riding Hood). He is surprised to see the sun rising, as he must only live at night, and he turns into a wolf. In the meantime, the dwarf Gübrich, who was sent by Waldminne in search of her son, is changed into a pug and finds a new owner in the person of Kasperl Larifari, a lumberjack. The wolf eats cattle, and we already fear for Rotkäppchen’s safety as she is walking through the woods from old Kathrin’s house, her grandmother. But after seeing her, Heriwolf becomes human again, and she confides in the young man she met at dawn. Unfortunately, his wolf’s appetite makes him eat old Kathrin. He is still hungry and is about to pounce on Rotkäppchen before being shot by the hunters. Waldminne appears and turns Heriwolf back into his human form. He marries Rotkäppchen.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Title page of the play illustrated by the author

Fairy

Dwarf

Little Red Riding Hood

Grandmother

Kasperl

Peasant (man)

Hunter

The dream genie

Wolf

Misunderstanding

Dream

Metamorphosis

Magic act

Comical regional accent

Talking animal

Unveiling

Transforming scenery

Double identity

Love story

Chase

Deus ex machina

Das Märchen vom Rothkäppchen

The tale of Little Red Riding Hood

Don Juan tries to abduct Admirelles – the daughter of the governor of Barcelona Don Pedro, whom he turned away to his rival Don Philippo’s advantage. He is caught by Don Pedro and kills him, then he kills his uncle to rob him of his wealth and leaves town using the sewers. Don Juan and Kasper hide in a wood, where Don Juan kills a hermit to steal his trousers. Thus disguised, he kills Don Philippo, who was chasing him. The statue of Don Pedro appears to him. Don Juan invites him over for dinner. After a shipwreck, Don Juan and Kasper reunite at a wedding, during which one seduces the bride Zerlinchen and the other seduces her friend Berta. Don Pedro comes for dinner and insists that Don Juan visit him in his vault. Don Juan goes back to Barcelona during the night, enters the tomb and is damned. Kasper fled without further ado.

Apel Heinrich

Saxony

Manuscript

Seduction

Debauchery

Forest

Licentiousness

Assassination

Parricide

Valet

Phantom

Abduction

Barcelona

Dramatic

Title page of Heinrich Apel's manuscript.

Der steinerne Gast

Don Pietro

Donna Marillis

Don Filippo

Don Juan

Guard

Hermit

Landlady

Zerlina

Ghost

Stichomythia

Letter

Inn scene

Murder on stage

Light effects

Running away

Love rivalry

Aside

The princess escapes to the moon by walking on a ray of moonlight. Her father, King Cyprian XIII, promises a reward for he who can bring her back to earth. Kasperl and Seppl volunteer and leave on a rocket. They find the princess miserable, forced to cook and clean for the Man on the Moon. Thanks to a trap, Kasperl and Seppl succeed in escaping with the princess. The king thanks Kasperl and wants to offer him a gift, but Kasperl is content with a piggybank—he had to break his own to buy the rocket.

Glove-puppet

Bertl Hayde (Berta Gründler-Hetmanek)

Austria

Vienna

Rescue

Misfortune

Disillusionment

Tale

Gugelhupf

Birthday

Kitchen

Women's condition

Exploitation

Fantasy

Ein Handpuppenspiel für zwei Spieler

Seppl

Inhabitants on the moon

Trumpet (military man/woman)

Town crier

Night watchman

Metatheatre

Dialogue with the audience

Address to the public

Disguised character (false identity)

Trap

Aria

Die Fahrt auf den Mond

Le voyage sur la Lune

A runaway slave meets a dragon which threatens to breathe fire on him; he asks the dragon whether it has the sultan’s permission to do so, predicting that the dragon will eat his former master before the guard kills it. But things do not turn out exactly as expected. Right before the audience, the dragon meets a knight who wants the sultan to recognise his superiority to become a knight too. The sultan refuses to talk, appointing the dragon to speak in his stead and authorising him to breathe fire on the knight. The slave returns in order to sit on the throne that he thinks empty – and it is indeed soon to be the case, because the sultan suddenly decides to follow in the deceased knight’s footsteps and take his place. Meanwhile, the fat Katja, who was dancing and singing for the sultan, has moved in with the dragon, and everyone is invited for coffee.