At the market, Esopo (Aesop) is sold to a new master: the philosopher Xanto. Xanto’s daughter, Filena, is in love with one of her father’s followers, Periandro: Esopo is bought as a matchmaker. Xanto confides in him: he is in love with his wife’s lady-in-waiting, Geringonça. The latter becomes infatuated with Esopo, who rejects her. During a symposium, Xanto bets that he can empty the sea: Esopo helps him untangle himself from this bet, in exchange for freedom. Esopo, drunk, tells Geringonça that his master loves her; his wife Eurípedes hears this too: upset, she leaves the house. Disguised as another woman, Filena is courted by Periandro: she accuses him of being unfaithful and leaves him. Esopo has been sent to prison. He is freed by Xanto, who thus settles his promise; he now promises to free Esopo on condition that he bring Eurípedes back. While Temístocles (Themistocles) and Cresso are waging war against Athens, one of Jupiter’s eagles lands on Esopo, who becomes commander of the armies. Esopo manages to make Eurípedes so jealous that she decides to go back to her husband. As Cresso’s army is standing outside Athens, Esopo begins to tell a fable about love, punctuated with macaronic Latin. The two couples (Xanto and Eurípedes, Periandro and Filena) reconcile. Esopo, who is in love with Filena, recites a sonnet to her, and makes her write an ambiguous letter intended for him. Called to duty, Esopo triumphs over Temístocles, through betrayal and plays on words. During a night scene, Eurípedes goes to the court where Xanto is meeting Geringonça. Xanto meets his daughter there, waiting for her lover. Eurípedes pretends to be Geringonça, to expose her husband’s infidelity. Esopo is fooled, and Geringonça shouts that she has been robbed. After the defeat of the town has been announced, Esopo dresses as a woman and draws Temístocles’ attention: he has fallen in love with the beautiful young woman. Esopo is imprisoned and Cresso tasks him with building a tower in the air. After another turnaround, the King pardons him and he goes back to Athens, where his fellow citizens make peace with him as he narrates a fable to them.

Rod and string marionette

Giant marionette

Not specified

António José Da Silva (António José da Silva, aka O Judeu)

Portugal

Lisbon

Printed

Slave

Philosophy

Love

Unfaithfulness

Enfranchisement

Parodistic

Comical

Burlesque

Philosophical tale

Esopaida, title page and summary of the play (1759)

Portuguese

ou Vida de Esopo

Croesus

King

Xeno

Philosopher

Slave master

Lover (man)

Disciple

Themistocles

General

Daughter

Wife

Maid

Aesop

Soldier

Choir

Music

Philosophical dialogue

Love story

Thwarted love

Dinner scene

Statue coming to life

Change of social status

Allusion to theatrical events of the time

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Macaronic Latin

Fight

Oracle

Battlefield scene

Cross-dressing

Esopaida

Aesop’s Life

Jason lands in Colchis with Teseu (Theseus) and an armed escort; he seeks to obtain the Golden Fleece. As he admires the King’s beautiful daughter, Medeia (Medea), and her cousin Creúsa, his servant Sacatrapo is coveting Arpia, Medeia’s servant. Sacatrapo, hidden inside a sideboard, overhears Medeia declaring her love for Jason to her servant. Jason promises to marry Medeia if she helps him find the Golden Fleece. But he is in love with Creúsa: he declares his love to his servant and entrusts him with inquiring into the young woman’s feelings. The King is sceptical about the motifs of Jason’s coming and asks Medeia to find out about his true intentions. Because Jason urges her to, Medeia carries him on a cloud to the enchanted garden. On Pegasus’s back, Jason enters the garden, where he fights against a fire-breathing dragon; laid down, the dragon disappears into flames. Medeia summons Sacatrapo thanks to a dragon who spits the servant out of its month. Casting her spells, she makes the flowers of the garden move and transforms them into nymphs (which Sacatrapo sees as donkeys). Jason confirms again that he loves Medeia, even though he is thinking about Creúsa. Jason is preparing to flee with Teseu and asks Sacatrapo to go fetch Creúsa. The servant tells the King that Jason stole the Golden Fleece from him. Medeia, abandoned, confides in Creúsa. The young women order Jason to explain himself. The King asks Medeia to vouch for Jason; she agrees. Sacatrapo meets Medeia: mistaking her for Creúsa during a night scene, he reveals that Jason is unfaithful. Furious, Medeia buries him slowly to feed the dragons with him, and replaces his head with a donkey’s. He must look for his head in the depths. Arpia fools Sacatrapo by promising that he will discover a donkey with golden droppings; this donkey is said to be kept by an ant. Sacatrapo is determined to kill the ant and steal the donkey using the hat given by Arpia, which should make him invisible. Medeia walks in on Creúsa and Jason during a romantic duo scene; she buries her rival inside a mountain. The King begins a war against the Argonauts: Sacatrapo arrives with a rag on his head and believes that he is invisible. He and Jason are taken prisoners. Riding a chariot drawn by dragons, Medeia divides the armies with a river. The King disowns his daughter, as she raises a tower from which she defies him. While Sacatrapo believes that he has found a treasure, snakes come out of the chest he is dragging: he has once again been fooled by Arpia. Creúsa and Jason flee during a night scene, but Medeia unleashes the winds, leading to a storm scene, so that they are forced to go back to Colchis. The King pardons Jason, offers him to marry Creúsa and promises to kill Medeia, who escapes on a cloud.

Magic

Dragon

Golden Fleece

Theft

Treason

Unrequited love

Mock-heroic

Lyrical

Fantasy

Farcical

Summary of the play Os Encantos de Medeia (edition of 1759)

Jason

Theseus

Prince

Nephew

Medea

Princess

Creusa

Niece

Servant

Guard

Enchantment

Set that comes to life

Avista

Metamorphosis

Flying machine

Love rivalry

Clouds

Fighting a monster

Animalised character

Night scene

Stormy scene

Shipwreck scene

Animated natural element

Battle against a sorcerer

Entering with vehicle

Splitting of the body

Headbutt

Spying scene

Thunderbolt

Apotheosis

Final wedding

Dancing entertainment

Ballet

Os Encantos de Medeia

Medea's Spells

On the road to Amiens, Lafleur is arrested by a sentry. He explains who he is and his friend Blaise appears at this moment; he has been following him since Querrieu, thinking that Lafleur would enroll in the army. When Lafleur hears that his friend wants to become a soldier, he joins him, deciding that he will fulfill his duty after the war. Once recruited, the two friends stand guard at the entrance of the Querrieu woods. All of a sudden, they hear noises, coming from a spy on his way to inform general Manteuffel of what the French are planning. Lafleur stops him, but general Faidherbe, who has just arrived with his soldiers, tells him to release the spy, because the French do not do things the same way as the German. Catherine, Lafleur’s wife, had to flee Querrieu after it was destroyed by the Prussians. While crossing the woods, she is arrested by the Prussians who assault and abduct her. Lafleur, who has heard the cries, arrives too late to defend his spouse. The colonel arrives with his soldiers who have heard the cannon shots. Lafleur points to the direction in which the Prussians went. A battle begins. The colonel, hit by a bullet, hands leadership over to Lafleur. Believing that his wife is dead, Lafleur fights the Prussian army mercilessly, until he is wounded too. The battle ends when Blaise brings the living Catherine to Lafleur. Faldherbe announces that the French have won and that Lafleur is a French hero. Catherine asks to follow her husband on the battlefields and the general grants her permission. The musicians play the Marseillaise. Everyone sings and shouts “Vive la France!”.

Rod marionette

France

Amiens

Typewriting

Woman battered and kidnapped

Dead for the homeland

Marseillaise

Brave woman

Heroism

Dramatic

Heroic

Epic

Picard language

Lafleur

Blaise

Sentinelle

Sergeant

Louis Faidherbe

Spy (man)

Colonel

Prussian

Comical foreign accent

Final song

Song

Death on stage

El Bataille ed Querriu

The Battle of Querrieu

Rosa – the keeper of the “Zum Golden Stern” inn – wants her daughter Analies to marry Kasper, the waiter, so that he does not go to war and can protect the inn. But Analies hesitates. She A Zouave, who promises her a rich life after the war, courts her. Kasperl is disappointed and enlists in the Prussian army. After arresting a Jewish spy, he receives a bonus and finds favour with his major who makes him his Fourierschütz (a soldier assigned to an officer for protection and personal service). Kasperl follows his regiment and arrives near Sedan, where he meets Analies again. She has been abandoned in the middle of a battlefield by the Zouave, who was sick of her. She wants to go back to Kasperl. The major forces them to marry. Analies agrees on the spot, but Kasperl has reservations about it: what if she leaves him again? Analies promises to be faithful and Kasperl agrees to marry her. Kasperl’s major must escort prisoners to Strasbourg. Kasperl and Analies go back to the inn. Rosa was worried about her daughter’s and her waiter’s fates. The wedding is celebrated with dances, while rows of prisoners parade outside the inn.

Germany

Electronic text

Money

Anti-Semitism

Nationalism

Loyalty in love

German

Kasperls kriegerische Heldenthaten

Innkeeper

Fiancée

Waiter

Fourierschütz

Kasperl

Zouave

Prisoner

Captain

Lieutenant

Auxiliary

Shopkeeper

Schoolteacher

Surgeon

Batman

Beating with a broom

Dance

Die Schlacht bei Sedan am 2 September 1870

The Battle of Sedan on 2 September 1870

Guignol tells the Directeur (Director) that he thinks highly of theatre. He asks to be introduced to the audience, and jokes with him about being made of wood. Ubu kills the king Venceslas. The Queen dies, and the Ombre (Shadow) of one of her ancestors gives the young prince Bougrelas a sword, so that he can avenge his father. Ubu robs and slaughters Nobles, dismisses the judges and makes them all fall through the trapdoor. Ubu goes fight the Russian army, and Mère Ubu (Mother Ubu) and her accomplice Giron try to steal his treasures while he is away. On the battlefield, Ubu is chased out by the Russian army led by the Tzar. An Ours (bear) attacks general Lascy and prevails. In the meantime, Ubu has taken shelter in a tree. Mère Ubu meets her husband and they both prepare to leave for France. But Bougrelas appears and has them arrested by the Gendarmes (Police), and asks for them to locked up in France and for Père Ubu (Father Ubu)’s brain to be removed.

Glove-puppet

Jarry Alfred

Paris

Regicide

Tyranny

Voracity

Treasure

Slaughter

Army

Revenge

Police (French gendarmerie)

Grotesque

Ubu's puppet in Ubu sur la butte, 1901.

French

Father Ubu

Mother Ubu

Queen

Ghost

Emperor

Noble

Clerk

Magistrato

Counselor

Financier

Russian

Pole

Bear

Horse

Constable

Prologue

Blow-with-a-stick

Murder on stage

Apparition of a ghost

Parade

Plot scene

Chase

Fight with an animal

Ubu sur la butte

Ubu on the hilllock

Josuez l’Autrichien (Josuez the Austrian) would like to marry Flore, but her uncle – a rich farmer named Danglois – objects to it. Josuez kills Danglois. Flore believes that her uncle has joined the army. She sets off in search of the French troops, but she ends up meeting the Austrians. When they hear her scream, the French come to her rescue, and they engage in battle against the Austrians.
Josuez tries to get rid of Fanfan, an orphan raised at the farm and who is in love with Flore. Flore returns to the farm. Josuez follows her. Because she does not want to marry him, he wishes to kill her, so he can at least lay hands on the money. Fanfan comes in and kills him. Flore finds the body of her uncle in the well. The French come in and announce that they have won.

Esopaida

ou Vida de Esopo

Os Encantos de Medeia

El Bataille ed Querriu

Die Schlacht bei Sedan am 2 September 1870

Kasperls kriegerische Heldenthaten

Ubu sur la butte

Fanfan l'orphelin

La Bataille de Kimberley

Épisode de la guerre Anglo-Boers

L'Espion

Le Destin de la princesse Églantine

Chant de chevalerie en quatre chapitres et quatorze actions

Jean le Peureux