Fleeing his wife, Polichinelle steals a charlatan's cabriolet with Pierrot. First he wins the trust of the population with free advice, then he launches a subscription for a phantom financial company. When the shareholders demand their money, he sends them away with good words and blows, until the Public itself comes to threaten him directly. Mrs. Polichinelle offers to take care of the punishment. Terrified, Polichinelle flees into the forest. Abandoned by Pierrot, he walks to Hell. There, he tries to swindle Death and stands up to the Devil who, in desperation, goes looking for Mrs. Polichinelle. She brings her husband home firmly, with the approval of the audience.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

Printed

Swindling

Hell

Marriage hell

Punishment

Forest

Public

Perseverance in Evil

Money

Capitalism

Bossy woman

Escape

Comical

Satirical

Farcical

Ironic

French

Le Charlatan

Charlatan

Polichinelle

Crook

Pierrot

Tenant

Lady

Peasant

Cassandre

Cassandra

Shopkeeper

Colombine

Valet

Death

Devil

Intervention of the audience

Apparition of the Devil

Plot twist

Blow-with-a-stick

Apparition of Death

L'Homme au cabriolet

the man with a cabriolet

On the advice of Lafleur, Titine Calicot, gave up her studies and now works as a sales assistant in a sex shop. She thinks that Lafleur is a good man but Sandrine, his wife, does not agree with that. She believes he spends too much time with other women, does not work, does not earn any money and spends all of his free time drinking. Gégène, the owner of a pub, comes looking for Lafleur for he has not paid her in 6 months. Sandrine gets worried – if Lafleur is not at Gégène’s pub, where could he have gone? Papa Tchutchu, the landlord, demands that the rent for the past six months be paid. Sandrine tries to explain that she and her husband are living off her income, because Lafleur does not work and he claims to be ill. Papa Tchutchu hesitates over calling court baillifs, for Lafleur is capable of beating them and of making a scene. Gégène returns and explains that she has heard that Lafleur was hit by a car. Given the circumstances, Papa Tchutchu, gives up on being paid back. Titine has doubts, though – Gégène might have been mistaken. Blaise has also heard about Lafleur’s accident and cannot believe that he has really passed away. Him, Sandrine, Gégène and Paupaul reminisce about Lafleur and his banter. Lafleur comes back alive and enters the grieving house. He explains that it is not he who has been crushed, but old Marie’s flower. He is very angry with Gégène, who prefers to flee to avoid his kicks. Lafleur wants to know what has been said of him when it was thought he had passed away. Death enters. She, too, has heard that Lafleur had died. She comes to get him, but Lafleur kicks her away.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

Amiens

Accident

Laziness

Rent

Fake news

Picard language

Sandrine

Sales assistant

Bar owner

Landlord

Papa Tchutchu

Blaise

Lafleur

Skeleton

Misunderstanding

Kicking

Ch' l'accidint d'Lafleur

Lafleur's accident

Miséria est un vieux forgeron qui passe ses journées à travailler le fer. Son seul plaisir est de prendre soin de son noyer. Un jour, São Pedro (Saint Pierre) vient lui rendre visite, demandant un fer à cheval. Comme il ne lui en reste plus, Miséria lui propose de prendre celui qui est un porte-bonheur en argent. Quelques temps plus tard, São Pedro retourne chez Miséria, disant qu’il peut demander un souhait. Miséria demande que ceux qui grimpent dans son noyer pour voler des noix finissent prisonniers de l’arbre. 
Quand la Mort arrive pour chercher Miséria, il fait un pacte avec le diable, avec lequel il gagne 20 ans. Au bout de 20 ans, la Mort revient. A ce moment, Miséria lui demande un dernier souhait : qu’elle grimpe à l’arbre pour lui chercher une noix. Ainsi, la Mort devient prisonnière du noyer. Tant qu'elle est prisonnière de l'arbre, le soleil ne se couche plus, il n’y a plus de vent, les feuilles restent immobiles ; le monde s’est arrêté. Miséria finit pas libérer la Mort à condition qu’elle lui promette la vie éternelle. La Mort accepte, mais le prévient qu’il regrettera son souhait. La pièce finit avec le vieux forgeron qui travaille le fer, se plaignant de son sort : son arbre qui était la raison de son existence vient de mourir et il reste condamné à la vie éternelle.

Rod puppet

Full-view manipulation

Adults

Portugal

Porto

Magalhães Álvaro

Electronic text

Old age

Tree

Deal with the Devil

Tale

Desires

Human condition

Future punishment

Time

Immortality

Philosophical tale

Tragic

Dramatic

Miséria (Teatro de Marionetas do Porto, 1991)

Portuguese

Old man

Blacksmith

Saint Peter

Voice

Apparition of a Saint

Narrator

Song

Peasant accent

Change of voice

Smoke

Flying character

Music

Miséria

Misère

Jean is worried. Night is coming and he has nowhere to sleep. Tchantchès goes looking for a place to stay the night and, to prevent Jean from getting scared of the dark, he leaves him a bottle of peket (juniper beandy). As soon as Tchantchès has left, Jean empties the bottle and falls asleep. He is awoken by the arrival of the Capitaine (Captain) who tells him that he is looking for a brave knight in order to save Princesse Isabella. Drunk, Jean accepts the challenge. The Capitaine tells him that he needs to perform three tasks. The first test is to prevail over the Chevalier Noir (Black Knight), the second one is to answer two questions asked by Lucifer, and the last one is to fight Death. Jean passes all the tests and frees the princess, who falls in love with her saviour. The King gives Jean a new name, Jean-Sans-Peur (Jean-The-Fearless), offers Jean his daugther’s hand in marriage, and invites him to the castle. Tchantchès comes back to tell Jean that he has found a place to stay for the night, but his master is gone. He learns what happened from the public.

Single rod marionettes

Young audiences

Belgium

Liège

Knighthood

Princess

Peket

Fear

Drunkenness

Test

Fantasy

Knight

King

Captain

Tchantchès

Battlefield scene

Off-stage voice

Address to the public

Death on stage

Jean le Peureux

Jean The Fearful

Polichinelle’s humps get in the way of his sleep. Crispin advises him to go find the fairy Mélusine so that she removes them from him. But the Fée (Fairy) is not at home and her daughter, who is still learning magic, gives him the wrong ointment. Polichinelle changes into a camel. He will have to find white roses to break the spell. Madame Dupont-Duteil is on her way to a marriage with a bouquet of white roses. She faints at the sight of the camel eating the flowers and transforming back into Polichinelle. Mère Gigogne, Polichinelle’s mother, gives birth to several children. She helps Madame Dupont-Duteil regain consciousness and has her believe that Polichinelle wants to marry her – news at which she runs away. Vexed, Polichinelle summons the Devil. He traps him in a sewing box and the Devil teaches him how to get rid of his humps—he must find a Parisian Marionnettiste (a Puppeteer). The latter removes Polichinelle’s humps. Having become “like everyone else”, Polichinelle lost his immortality. Death comes to take him away, but He has forgotten His scythe. While Death is looking for it, Polichinelle asks the Parisian Marionnettiste to glue his humps back on him. Death comes back with His scythe and fights with Polichinelle, who prevails. Crispin sets the Devil free. As a way to thank him, Death grants him a wish and Crispin asks to be loved by Madame Dupont-Duteil. He makes a deal with the Devil and Madame Dupont-Duteil invites Crispin over to her house. The Devil laments not having taken Polichinelle’s life but comforts himself with the thought that he has won Crispin who, having left with Madame Dupont-Duteil, is already “in Hell” in a way.

Le Teil

Lyon

Hump

Amputation

Wedding

Magic

Fairy

Love

Identity

Bosse en trop: Polichinelle

Crispin

Daughter

Puppeteer

Mother Gigogne

Child

Metamorphosis

Childbirth on stage

Change of size on sight

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Fall of a body part

Fight

Dance

Bosses en trop

Unwanted humps

A flesh-and-blood Pulcinella speaks to the audience about his secret passion for books and, in particular, for Shakespeare's Macbeth. While reading a book and manipulating chess pieces on a small table in front of a castelet, Pulcinella tells the story of Macbeth. At the end, convinced that it's impossible for such a wicked character to die, he casts a spell to keep Macbeth alive. Pulcinella enters in the puppet boots and "Mr. Punch Macbeth" appears on stage.
After hitting his wife Judy and making a sausage with the Baby, Mr Punch-Macbeth meets Hamlet, played by a Pierrot puppet. In an absurd dialogue between the two characters, their stories mingle and Hamlet ends up killing Mr Punch-Macbeth, shouting, « Essere o non essere, non è un problema! » (« To be or not to be isn’t a problem! »). Hamlet falls in love with Juliette, but his brother (a Sicilian pupo) and the puppeteer prevent the marriage of a glove puppet and a marionette. Juliette drinks a potion which makes her appear to be dead. Hamlet swallows a poison which turns him into a glove puppet representing Mobârak (the black valet of the Iranian puppet theater), in the role of Othello.
Othello mistakes Juliette for Desdemona and kills her before remembering that he himself is Romeo. In despair, he commits suicide. Iago enters, interpreted by a puppet with the head of the Neapolitan actor Totò, and proclaims himself king of the wicked. But he is immediately attacked and killed by a Polichinelle playing the part of Richard III. All the characters haunt the sleep of Polichinelle-Richard III: Mr Punch-Macbeth, Hamlet-Romeo, Othello, Iago. In the end, he is pursued by Death, but a horse with Pulcinella’s white hat and black half-mask comes to save him. At this moment, a marotte representing Shakespeare intervenes to bring the show to an end. Accompanied by the song Che cosa sono le nuvole? by Domenico Modugno and Pier Paolo Pasolini, taken from Pasolini's movie of the same name, the puppets make a final appearance on the puppet booth stage.

L'Homme au cabriolet

Ch' l'accidint d'Lafleur

Miséria

Jean le Peureux

Bosses en trop

Pulchi Shake and Speare

Miscellanea di drammi shakespeariani in guarattellesco by Pulcinella Cetrulo